I am writing to share an update with you on the Provincial processes pertaining to Bishop Stewart Ruch III. Last fall, after evaluating a breadth of evidence, a majority of the Provincial Investigative Team-UMW recommended a Presentment be considered against Bishop Ruch. A Presentment is a written document under Canon IV.4.1 setting forth specific disciplinary charges under Canon IV.2. Subsequently, on December 22 and 23, 2022 three bishops signed a Presentment charging Bishop Ruch with violations of Title IV Canon 2. After receiving the Presentment, I, in accordance with my requisite duties under the Canons, began the process of selecting a Board of Inquiry to evaluate the Presentment.
In the midst of this appointment process, on January 31, 2023, Bishop Ruch made a secret appeal to the Provincial Tribunal to declare the Presentment invalid. The Tribunal failed to give proper notice to me, the Presenting Bishops, or the Provincial Chancellors. We were not given a copy of what Bishop Ruch filed and we were not given opportunity to address the issue. We did not even know the Tribunal was involved until it issued on February 4, 2023 what it called a “stay order,” attempting to block the process and compel me to halt the process of fulfilling my canonically mandated responsibility to appoint a Board of Inquiry and referring the Presentment to it.
The Tribunal consists of seven members, four of whom have clear conflicts of interest in the related controversy and should have recused themselves prior to the Tribunal considering the petition from Bishop Ruch…
Statement by the Primate of the ACNA on the usurpation of authority by the provincial tribunal in the Ruch affairhttps://t.co/UOzPjPElA8 pic.twitter.com/41iIYFOGkv
— Anglican Ink (@anglicanink) June 7, 2023