A politically motivated splinter from the US Episcopal Church descends into turmoil after its presiding prelate stands accused of sexual assault, bullying, and plagiarism

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It is always the most zealous among these types with the most skeletons in the closet. Excerpt from the Washington Post, 23 October:

The Anglican Church in North America — forged from the headline-grabbing conservative revolt against the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop — is now confronting allegations by clergy and parishioners against two of its top leaders: One is accused of sexual misconduct, while the other allegedly abused his power by allowing men with troubling histories into the church. 

The denomination’s senior-most official, Archbishop Stephen Wood, 62, has been accused by a former children’s ministry director of putting his hand against the back of her head and trying to kiss her in his office in April 2024. The incident allegedly occurred two months before he was elected to the helm, according to a new church presentment, which The Washington Post obtained in advance of its Monday submission.

The woman, who gave an interview to The Post, also accused Wood of giving her thousands of dollars in unexpected payments from church coffers before the alleged advance. Wood, a married father of four sons, remains the rector of St. Andrew’s Church in the Charleston, South Carolina, area, and a bishop overseeing a diocese of more than 40 churches across the South.

If the presentment triggers an ecclesiastical trial, Wood could be defrocked and forced to step down. He is the first archbishop in the Anglican Church in North America to face a presentment, a denomination spokeswoman said.

Prediction: Stephen Wood shall remain the archbishop of this renegade denomination for years to come, comfortably astride the lucrative anti-woke, men-as-victims bandwagon—or, to use the plainer term, the Trump Train. There exists no vestige of shame within the various organs of this grotesque cult of personality that has devoured all reason, all restraint, and, indeed, the very moral fabric of a nation in collapse.

I commend those within their sect who still labour for accountability; yet, in truth, there is none left to be found in the blighted realm of #MAGA, to which they have gladly lent both sanction and allegiance for the past decade. —Arthur Newhook, 23 October 2025.

Copyright 2025, Arthur Newhook.