Ecclesiastical trial of Stewart Ruch

The ecclesiastical trial of Bishop Stewart Ruch by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) began in July 2025 and ended with Ruch's acquittal on all charges five months later in December. Following allegations of the ACNA's Diocese of the Upper Midwest mishandling child abuse reports, Ruch was formally presented in 2022 on charges of "habitual neglect of the duties of the bishop's office" and of "conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense", both in violation of the canons of the ACNA, an Anglican province affiliated with the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches.

Following a series of extensive pretrial motions and the completion of a trial of Bishop Todd Atkinson, the ACNA's seven-member Court for the Trial of a Bishop began hearing the province's case against Ruch in July 2025. Less than a week into the trial, the provincial prosecutor resigned, alleging that the trial had been tainted by a member of the court. Amid further charges of improper actions on the part of court members and provincial employees, the appointment and subsequent resignation of a second prosecutor, and the appointment of a third prosecutor, the trial resumed in October 2025 to allow the new prosecutor to prepare to take up the case. The trial hearings concluded on October 13. On December 16, the trial court issued a unanimous verdict finding Ruch not guilty on all charges.

Before the trial began and while it was ongoing, the ACNA began revising its canons on safeguarding and clergy discipline. In 2024, the ACNA established minimum standards for dioceses with regard to safeguarding and clarified the responsibilities of bishops, and in 2025, it proposed revisions to its disciplinary canons to replace an adversarial system with an inquiry-based model and expand the province's capacity to receive reports of misconduct and discipline bishops.