About The Anglican Academy
The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal
The Rt. Rev. Herbert Thompson
The Rt. Rev. Kenneth Price
The Rev. Dr. Karl D. Ruttan
The Anglican Academy is a ministry of adult education and formation in the Christian faith for clergy and laity in the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. It was part of the vision of Bishop Thompson for the future direction of the diocese which he enunciated soon after his election and consecration. After Bishop Thompson retired, the Bishop Suffragan, Kenneth Price became the Bishop in Southern Ohio with ecclesiastical authority for the diocese and continued strong support for the ministry of the Anglican Academy. The current bishop, the Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, continues enthusiastic support for the Anglican Academy.
The Anglican Academy came into full flower in diocesan programming in 1994 with the appointment of its first full-time staff person. Since that time, the Academy has become responsible for numerous programs and activities in the diocese.
The current Dean of the Anglican Academy, the Rev. Dr. Karl D. Ruttan has a passion for spiritual formation and social justice. He has served as a parish priest in the Episcopal Church for thirty-one years. Most recently he has been Rector of St. John’s Church in Charleston, West Virginia. St. John’s is a downtown church with a soup kitchen and a history of involvement in the community. In West Virginia he developed programs in interfaith dialogue, forums on community issues, and helped create a formation program called Equipping the Saints to train lay leaders and those seeking ordination. He has also served parishes in the Dioceses of Ohio, Massachusetts, and Pittsburgh and spent three years in the mission field in the Republic of Zambia in Central Africa. He is a graduate of Kenyon College and holds a Master of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary with studies at Episcopal Divinity School and Cambridge University. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Duquesne University in Spiritual Formation. He grew up in Kent, Ohio and was ordained priest through the Diocese of Ohio in 1976. He is married to Mary Barkalow and the father of two adult children.
The Anglican Academy is different from one's usual concept of an "academy." In the first place, there is no building called “The Anglican Academy." The ministry is performed out of an office at the Bishop's Center in Columbus, Ohio; however, the programs and activities are generated throughout the diocese.
The most formal piece of the Academy's programs is the Diaconal Studies Program, a three-year curriculum of courses and spiritual formation designed primarily for persons seeking ordination to the Diaconate. Lay and clergy members of the diocese comprise the faculty for the school, which meets eight two-night weekends and two one-night weekends a year. Courses are open and available to persons other than those studying for ordination, as well.
Additionally, the Anglican Academy inaugurated a program to identify and train people for increased participation in leadership roles in their congregation, the diocese - and in their ministry outside the institutional church. SOLLI (The Southern Ohio Lay Leadership Initiative) invites nominations to its class of 8-10 persons each year. Nominees are asked to complete an application form. Persons selected enroll in this two-year, three-weekends-per-year program. One aspect about SOLLI that differentiates it from similar programs is that has a free-floating agenda. Basic ingredients for the two years are planned ahead of time; however, the participants are the ones who design how those ingredients will be incorporated and when they will take place.
The nationally known EFM (Education for Ministry) program is also part of the Academy's ministry. A lay coordinator supervises the program, and numerous mentors in the diocese conduct the weekly seminars.
Other programs that are part of the Anglican Academy's portfolio include:
- organizing the annual or semi-annual gathering of the College of Presbyters and Deacons with our Bishops for times of fellowship, spiritual formation, education, worship, and discussion of topics relevant to the ordained ministry
- planning an annual workshop for members of vestries and mission councils
- linking the ministries of the diocese with the work of the Faith-in-Life committee of the diocese, which utilizes a special endowment to provide educational opportunities designed primarily for the enhancement of the ministry of the laity of the diocese and
- connecting with and assisting other committees and commissions of the diocese as their ministries engage laity and clergy in areas of education and Christian formation.