Rt. Rev. Stewart Ruch III has been charged with the mishandling of sexual abuse disclosures and was being tried in an ecclesiastical court which was not open to the public.

The trial collapsed when the prosecutor, Alan Runyan, resigned because:

“the trial process had been irreparably tainted” by a member of the ACNA’s Court for the Trial of a Bishop who improperly questioned one of the prosecution’s witnesses for over an hour on the fifth day of trial.

The questioning allegedly brought in external material that had not been admitted into evidence by the court before the trial. This material, which pertained to the ACNA’s previous investigation rather than to the charges against Ruch, had been explicitly ruled improper by the court in an April 2025 pretrial order.

Archbishop Steve Wood appointed a new prosecutor so the trial could continue.

Meanwhile, Rachel Thebeau, the deputy prosecutor released a letter calling into question the integrity or competence – possibly both – of ACNA’s leadership. This was a career limiting move that led to her being persuaded to resign.

Archbishop Steve Wood has issued his own letter in response, a spectacle of duelling letters, defending himself and the other ACNA leaders tangled up in this:

The past few days have presented great challenges for our Anglican Church. As you may be aware, on Friday, a now-former employee of the province who was assisting in the prosecution for the ecclesiastical trial that is currently before the Court for the Trial of a Bishop, widely circulated a letter to individual members and clergy across the province that levels serious but misguided allegations against me, the provincial Chancellor, the Executive Director of the Province, and the Court. The letter suggests that we acted unethically and compromised the integrity of the Church. These accusations have sent a wave of pain, confusion, and division rippling across our province.

This makes me cringe, since the focus seems to be less on the truth or otherwise of Thebeau’s accusations and more on the aggravation it is causing ACNA leaders.

The College of Bishops has been pressed into service with yet another letter to help circle the ecclesiastical wagons. Maybe I’m imagining it, but it reads rather like a Trump cabinet meeting where toadying is the order of the day. The standout sentence is this piece of Newspeak: ” We are grateful for their ongoing commitment to appropriate levels of transparency”

Where is the truth in all this? I don’t know. What I do know is that the whole process is exceedingly murky and that makes me very suspicious.

There are some more opinions in the latest Anglican Unscripted: