Two priests are nominees to become bishop of the nascent Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest. The diocese in formation awaits approval by the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops, which meets June 20-21 at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and Olympia Resort and Conference Center in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
The nominees are the Very Rev. Robert S. Munday, former dean and president of Nashotah House, and the Rev. Stewart Ruch III, rector of Church of the Resurrection, Wheaton. Under the ACNA’s canons the bishops may appoint one of the two nominees as bishop or choose another person.
Munday served as 18th dean and president of Nashotah House from 2001 to 2011. Ruch became rector of Resurrection in 1999.
The Rev. Canon William Beasley, vicar general of the group and director of Greenhouse: A Movement of Multiplying Regional Churches, wrote in May:
In the case of the Upper Midwest we began to view our situation like the early pioneering moments of the United States because we have a big chunk of land similar to the Northwest Territory. Our prayer and hope is that, in time, congregations will be planted and multiplied into all of the Northwest Territory.
Our newly formed Constitution and Canons were written to provide a vision for church planting and multiplication in a revival of Word and Sacrament. We gave scope to three geographical deaneries — subdivisions within the diocese (with the hope of more to come) — in Chicago, Wisconsin and Minneapolis. Hopefully, these deaneries will grow into multiple dioceses. Greenhouse has congregations in each of these regions with the express purpose of serving the various regions and multiplying congregations.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
