Bishop Todd Atkinson of Via Apostolica under investigation for spiritual abuse
(Staff) A CANADIAN BISHOP who oversaw six parishes in Western Canada but who is affiliated with an American diocese has taken a leave of absence and is being investigated by the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) for spiritual abuse.
Allegations of misconduct, including the abuse of ecclesiastical power, have been made against Bishop Todd Atkinson of the Via Apostolica Missionary District, based in Alberta, Canada.
The Anglican Church in North America is in charge of the investigation. None of the members of the investigative team are members of Via Apostolica.
Individuals with relevant information are invited to confidentially email the official Provincial Response Team at tainvestigation@anglicanchurch.net.
Background
In 2012 Todd Atkinson founded Via Apostolica, an independent church movement which today has parishes in Lethbridge and Calgary, Alberta; Langley and Cumberland, B.C.; and Regina and Caronport, Saskatchewan. That same year Atkinson had been consecrated a bishop by Anglican bishops from the U.S.
Via clergy were observers at the diocesan synod of the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) meeting in Burlington, Ontario in 2017.
Through the efforts of ANiC’s diocesan bishop Charlie Masters, Atkinson was welcomed into ACNA’s College of Bishops on Jan. 10, 2019.
The next year, during ACNA’s provincial assembly, a motion was made to admit Via Apostolica as a provincial missionary district. This motion was overwhelmingly passed on June 24, 2020.
Strangely, Bp Atkinson and Via Apostolica did not seek to be under the oversight of the Anglican Network in Canada. Instead Via Apostolica was designated a Provincial Missionary District in the ACNA directly responsible to Archbishop Foley Beach. Though geographically located in Canada, the clergy of Via Apostolica are canonically resident in the Diocese of the Upper Midwest (UMW) under Bishop Stewart Ruch III.
On July 8, Bp Ruch requested a leave of absence and the Bishop’s Council of the UMD asked that ACNA take up oversight of the investigation into the mishandling of abuse charges and a review of their diocesan leadership structures. Ruch admitted that he made a “regrettable error” in failing to inform the diocese about allegations of abuse at Christ Our Light Anglican Church in Big Rock, Illinois.
On July 26, Abp Beach appointed Bp John Miller to serve as Acting Bishop in the Diocese of the Upper Midwest and Bp Atkinson to assist Bp Miller.
A month later on Aug. 24, the Executive Committee of the ACNA appointed members of the Provincial Response Team (PRT) to investigate the Diocese of the Upper Midwest’s handling of allegations of misconduct.
Days later on Aug. 29, after receiving additional allegations regarding abuse of power within the UMD the Executive Committee approved expanding the scope of the Provincial Response Team’s investigation to include abuse of power (spiritual abuse).
On Sept. 3, the expanded scope of the Provincial review resulted in Atkinson taking a leave of absence from Via Apostolica and as acting assistant bishop of the UMD amidst allegations of misconduct. A separate American investigative team is handling the allegations within the Diocese of the Upper Midwest.
Red flags raised
Notably, there had been red flags raised back in 2018 in a letter signed by a dozen ANiC priests including two prominent clergy, David Short and George Sinclair, requesting that Bp Masters refrain from recommending Atkinson and Via Apostolica as a missionary district in ACNA, until significant questions concerning his leadership style and theology were considered. The letter specifically cited concern over reports of ‘Heavy Shepherding.’
They argued that the process in recommending Bp Atkinson and Via Apostolica was rushed through the ANIC Synod and cited four specific considerations: “a lack of process coherence, a lack of pastoral coherence, a lack of coherence in our witness and, most importantly a lack of theological coherence.” The signators requested that the process be put on hold until significant concerns could be raised and allow time for Atkinson to respond. They additionally requested that their letter be put forward to the ACNA College of Bishops to communicate their concerns.
“Some of us are troubled by the apparent claim to extra-biblical revelation from the pulpit by Bishop Todd. Others have raised concerns that the ‘unique discipleship method’ of Via Apostolica may incline toward ‘Heavy Shepherding’ with its unaccountable reliance on one leader. The essence of Anglican identity forms the basis for our confessional unity. It would be theologically troubling for us to move forward with a proposed Missionary District without these issues being somewhat resolved.”
They recommended that “Synod motions of structural significance be properly vetted” and not rushed and that ANiC Council “develop policies and procedures to deal with such significant motions in the future” especially when there were “ecclesial and theological implications” in such structural changes as affinity and missionary districts.
However, Masters rejected their request and in early 2019 recommended Atkinson and Via Apostolica in the strongest of terms.
While Bp Atkinson is on a leave of absence, Bp Quigg Lawrence, Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Christ Our Hope, has been appointed to oversee Via Apostolica.
For more details about the membership and mandate of the team investigating Bp Atkinson and his role in Via Apostolica, see https://anglicanchurch.net/news/
