The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), a denomination forged by a breakaway from the Episcopal Church over disputes about doctrine and morality, now finds itself at the center of a storm that questions the very values it was founded to defend. On October 23, 2025, an exclusive investigation by Ian Shapira and Reshma Kirpalani for The Washington Post brought to light a series of allegations against Archbishop Stephen Wood, the denomination’s recently elected leader. The accusations—sexual misconduct, financial impropriety, plagiarism, and abusive leadership—have sent shockwaves through a church that prides itself on orthodoxy and moral clarity.
At the heart of the controversy is Claire Buxton, a 42-year-old divorced mother of three and former children’s ministry director at St. Andrew’s Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, where Wood served as rector before ascending to the archbishopric. According to affidavits and interviews cited by The Washington Post, Buxton’s experience with Wood began to shift in October 2021 after her promotion. What started as "excessive praise" and lingering hugs soon escalated into more troubling territory. In September 2022, Buxton received a $1,500 check from the church’s “Rector’s Mercy Fund,” which Wood said came from an anonymous admirer. The gifts didn’t stop there: a $500 bank deposit in July 2023, an envelope containing $1,500 in cash that December, and even an offer of a luxury resort getaway with spa treatments and babysitting followed.
Buxton, who was struggling financially as a single parent, accepted the money, though she later told The Washington Post that such bonuses were usually formal and direct-deposited. She also recounted how Wood’s pet name for her—“Claire Bear”—became a subject of whispers among staff, many of whom sensed an imbalance in their relationship. "We are taught to trust someone in his position, so it often felt wrong for me to question or say no to him, even when I felt uncomfortable," Buxton said in her affidavit.
The most serious allegation centers on an incident in April 2024, just before Wood’s election as archbishop. Buxton says that during a meeting in Wood’s office, he pulled her into an "intimate" hug, placed his hand on the back of her head, and tried to kiss her. She managed to avoid the kiss and left the office in shock. "I was in shock," she told The Washington Post. "It’s just bizarre to me how far we—the Anglican Church in North America and its leadership—have gotten away from basic morals and principles." Buxton resigned from her position in June 2024, just before Wood’s elevation to archbishop.
Archbishop Wood, 62, a married father of four, has categorically denied all allegations. In a statement quoted by Anglican Ink and Religion News Service, Wood said, “I do not believe these allegations have any merit. I place my faith and trust in the process outlined in our canons to bring clarity and truth in these matters.” The ACNA has stated that the alleged misconduct predates Wood’s tenure as archbishop, and a Board of Inquiry will determine whether the charges warrant a church trial—a process that could lead to Wood’s removal from office.
The allegations against Wood are not limited to sexual misconduct. The formal complaint, known as a presentment, also accuses him of plagiarizing sermons, bullying staff with curses and public shaming, and violating his ordination vows. These charges, signed by at least 10 clergy and laypeople, were submitted on October 20, 2025, and have already sparked intense debate within the denomination. According to NPR, denominational officials asked those who signed the presentment to re-sign it under penalties of perjury, a move some saw as intimidation and not required by church bylaws.
Such turmoil is not unprecedented in the ACNA, but its timing is especially painful. The denomination, which now counts over 1,000 churches and more than 130,000 members across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, was founded in 2009 by congregations disaffected with what they saw as the Episcopal Church’s drift toward progressive theology. The ACNA has long positioned itself as a bastion of traditional Anglican values, opposing same-sex relationships, restricting women from episcopal roles, and upholding conservative stances on issues like abortion.
Yet, as The Washington Post and Religion News Service report, the ACNA has been rocked by a series of high-profile scandals in recent years. Bishop Stewart Ruch III of the Upper Midwest Diocese recently stood trial for allegedly shielding men with histories of violence and sexual misconduct—a proceeding that concluded in mid-October 2025, with a verdict pending. Other bishops have been defrocked for inappropriate texting and pornography use, and the denomination has faced criticism for its handling of abuse allegations at influential congregations, including the Falls Church Anglican in Virginia.
In 2019, Rev. Hamilton Smith, then a rector in Wood’s diocese, wrote a letter questioning Wood’s moral authority, citing the use of a $60,000 diocesan truck for personal hunting trips while some clergy lacked health insurance, as well as accusations of sermon plagiarism and public cursing. Smith’s concerns, like Buxton’s, point to a broader pattern of unchecked power and lack of accountability at the highest levels of ACNA leadership.
Despite these controversies, Wood has publicly emphasized his commitment to transparency and reform. Since his election in June 2024, he has appointed a director of safeguarding and canonical affairs and has spoken about the need for "safeguarding" reforms in his addresses to the annual assembly. "Discipline in the church is one of the most important things that we can give our attention to, our minds to," Wood told ACNA members at a town hall in July 2025. Proposed changes to the denomination’s misconduct protocols, including easier complaint submission and clearer investigative processes, are set to be voted on next year and could take effect in January 2027.
For many within the ACNA, however, these reforms are not enough. "The problems at the highest levels of the ACNA are deeper, wider and more entrenched than many of its own parishioners realize," former communications director Andrew Gross told The Washington Post. Rev. Rob Sturdy, a Citadel chaplain and one of the presentment’s signatories, was blunt: "A church that can’t do right by victims of sexual abuse should not exist." Others, like Rev. Austin Becton, who resigned after being suspended for calling for repentance toward LGBTQ+ exclusion, see the current crisis as "symptoms of a structure designed... to protect itself at all costs."
As the Board of Inquiry begins its work and the ACNA awaits a verdict in the Ruch case, the denomination faces a defining test. Will it address its internal failings with the same zeal it once brought to doctrinal disputes, or will it become another cautionary tale of power and principle in conflict? For now, the future of the ACNA—and the credibility of its leadership—hangs in the balance, watched by a global Anglican community that once saw it as a beacon of renewal.
