Victims of Vestment Veneer

“The vulnerable have not been adequately protected and this has brought harm to many and offense to the Church at large.”

That indictment is from The Bishops’ Presentment in the Matter of Stewart E. Ruch III, Bishop of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest.

A 10-person board of inquiryfound grounds to try Ruch for violation of his ordination vows and for “conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense, including the abuse of ecclesiastical power” and for “disobedience, or willful contravention” of the denominational or diocesan bylaws.”

Ruch framed his own mishandling of the matter as “regrettable errors,” as I noted in my September 10, 2023 post What Say You. (There, you will find many links and background to the sordid matter.)

Kathryn Post writes:

Ruch has admitted to making “regrettable errors” in the case. After learning of the allegations in 2019, Ruch took two years to initiate an investigation or even share the news with members of his diocese. By that time, at least nine others had told abuse survivor’s advocates that they had been abused and groomed by Mark Rivera, a lay leader at Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, Illinois, who had previously been a volunteer leader at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois, which is the diocesan headquarters. . .

The presentment lists more than 10 cases where lay or clergy leaders in Ruch’s diocese were “credibly accused of misconduct” and claims Ruch “habitually neglected” to appropriately handle abuse allegations. (Emphasis mine.)

You can download and read the Presentment’s charges and the extensive allegations of misconduct below.

From the Anglican Church in North America website, News and Updates on The Ecclesiastical trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch III:

In December 2022, Mark Rivera, a former Lay Catechist in an Illinois church affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), was convicted of multiple counts of child sexual abuse.  The alleged mishandling of the disclosure of this abuse led to scrutiny of the ACNA’s Diocese of the Upper Midwest, the ecclesiastical entity primarily responsible for overseeing the parish where Rivera volunteered. Other accusations of misconduct and canonical violations by leaders of the Diocese were also made and investigated. 

Mark Rivera, convicted of felony child sexual abuse and assault, was sentenced on March 6, 2023 to 15 years in the department of corrections. On April 12 Rivera also pled guilty to one count of felony criminal sexual assault in connection to rape allegations made against him by his former neighbor and was sentenced to 6 years in the department of corrections.

More information at these links:

Former Anglican Lay Pastor Mark Rivera Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

Mark Rivera Pleads Guilty to Felony Sexual Assault, Sentenced to 6 More Years

Now, six years after a 9-year-old child came forward with sexual abuse allegations against a lay minister in an Illinois church, an ecclesiastical trial is finally taking place. The Living Church reports:

The ecclesiastical trial of the Rt. Rev. Stewart Ruch III, bishop of the Anglican Church in North America’s Diocese of the Upper Midwest, is slated to begin July 14 [2025]. The second bishop to be tried in the ACNA’s Court for the Trial of a Bishop since the denomination’s founding in 2009, Bishop Ruch will face charges involving alleged mishandling of sexual abuse disclosures, and alleged habitual promotion of abusive ministers in his diocese and at his cathedral, Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.

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My Perspective

I am familiar with Church of the Resurrection or “Rez” and with Stewart Ruch and Rand York. I am familiar with an early portion of Rez’s history – meeting at Glenbard West High School. I had been attending a large Baptist church in Wheaton when I heard about Rez. This was during the 90s.

What drew me to the church was the Anglican liturgy, the common book of prayer and, more than anything, the weekly Real Presence Eucharist which the Baptist church did not provide.

There was a charismatic element to Rez. Many of its members were tied in with Leanne Payne’s Pastoral Care Ministry. The ministry dealt with the healing of broken sexuality and addictions. Payne held annual week-long Healing Prayer seminars (PCMs) at Edman Chapel on the campus of Wheaton College.

Many who attended the PCMs attended Rez and so did many Wheaton College students. The students were bused from the campus to GWHS every Sunday. This was the milieu in which Stewart Ruch, Mark Rivera, Rand York, and Rez operated. This environment should have been a cautionary heads-up about who was placed in lay positions.

Stewart Ruch, his wife Kathryn, and their children lived around the corner from my house. I helped them move in.

I had been in a small group with Randy York and his wife Kay. This was before Randy became a priest and overseer of Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, Illinois – the place where Mark Rivera served as a lay leader and a 9-year-old child came forward with sexual abuse allegations against him. (See my 2023 post What Say You.)

I was surprised to find that Randy York, a Former Director of Human Resources, failed to act quickly on allegations against a lay minister under his authority and before that, lay out ground rules for reporting abuse.

When Stewart Ruch became rector of Rez I was disappointed. Stewart was unqualified to hold any leadership position. He was young, inexperienced, and suffered panic attacks. I believe he was chosen because he was personable and charismatic and could gin up audience interest. But not mine. His sermons never spoke to me. There was nothing there. There was something hyperactive and distant about Stewart that came across as charismatic.

When I later learned that Ruch was made a bishop (consecrated for the Diocese of the Upper Midwest by Archbishop Robert Duncan (Pittsburgh) in 2013), I thought that a lot of people had been fooled by Ruch’s charisma.

I left Rez when Stewart became rector of the church. I found a local Episcopal church that had resisted financial ties to the Chicago diocese and its leadership that promoted LGBTism.

I left the small group too – I never felt part of the group as the three other couples were all grads of Wheaton College. They wanted me to share personal stuff about my life but they were never forthcoming about themselves in that way. They came across as surface people like Stewart, another Wheaton grad.

Stewart, as I learned through the excellent reporting of Kathryn Post of RNS, decided to go on leave from Rez when he could no longer could ignore the situation – his mishandling of the abuse allegations.

 In July of 2021 Ruch wrote a letter to the Diocese with the veneer of being a responsible person:

Significant concerns have been raised about my response to allegations of abuse in our former diocesan congregation, Christ Our Light of Big Rock, Illinois. I understand that my leadership and my handling of these allegations have been called into question.

I want you to be able to trust me as your bishop and pastor. I feel like the best way to walk in integrity now is to step aside as this process moves forward and as efforts are made to serve any survivors of abuse. 

But Ruch later announced his return to Rez by framing his reckless self as a victim:

“Both my diocese and the ACNA got hit this summer by a vicious spiritual attack of the enemy,” Ruch wrote to the denomination’s top official, Archbishop Foley Beach, on Jan. 14. “I believe this is the case because both entities are doing robust Gospel work, and Satan hates us.”

“I have decided to come off of my voluntary and temporary leave of absence effective March 7, 2022,” Ruch announced to Beach. “I believe my calling as a bishop who is responsible for leading and pastoring my diocese requires me to return to my work of service, preaching and oversight.”

Ruch dismissed the ongoing investigative process, saying it was neither “canonical or, more importantly, biblical.”

Kathryn Post reports ACNA Bishop, Alleging ‘Spiritual Attack,’ Makes Appeal for His Return.

Interesting asides: Leanne Payne broke off her association with Rez when she found out that Stewart made public what she had said in a confessional way to him. Stewart confessed his breach of the seal of Payne’s confession from the pulpit. It appeared to me that Stewart had disregarded his priestly office and thought that telling people what he knew about Leane Payne would elevate him in the eyes of the congregation.

And, I heard Leanne Payne say something to the effect that Randy York has a big heart but lacked discernment. That appears to be the case for Randy and for many Christians today who practice mis-directed empathy toward wrong-doers, e.g., illegal immigrants.

It is written “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” – yet both Ruch and York, detached from members of the body suffering from sexual abuse, kept things close to the vestment and away from the members. The two were in their own vestment veneer worlds.

What is it called when after you find out that a lay leader under your authority is grooming children to sexual ends and you wait two years to say something? Cowardice? Corruption? Callousness?

I can only guess as to why Stewart Ruch and Randy York held back when abuse allegations were made known: they each wanted to protect their vestment veneer of charisma-won status. Consider that it took Ruch “two years to initiate an investigation or even share the news with members of his diocese” of the sexual abuse allegations and he almost immediately shared publicly what he learned in private from Leanne Payne.

Coverup, downplaying, denial, pretense, projection. How much of that is going on in the church to protect reputations -vestment veneers – and building programs?

What was needed at Rez: A Tom Homan Border Czar enforcer and not Saint Stewart.

We know what Jesus said about those who corrupt children (whether directly or indirectly):

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. -Mark 9:42

ACNA Protection Policies & Additional Resources – Safeguarding In Our Church

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