(RNS) — An Episcopal Church investigation into possible misconduct by former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Bishop Todd Ousley, a former Office of Pastoral Development official, concluded Monday (Dec. 30) with a pastoral response, according to an announcement from Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe.
Curry and Ousley were the subjects of a clergy misconduct complaint brought by the family of Bishop Prince Singh, the former bishop of the Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan. Singh’s sons told Curry in December 2022 that their father had physically and emotionally abused them, but Curry’s office did not launch an investigation into their case until the brothers went public with their allegations in June 2023. The Singh sons were later joined by their mother, who alleged that in February 2023, she told Curry that Singh had waved a knife at her.
The family maintains that the delay in launching the investigations constituted clergy misconduct, and in January a process known in the church as Title IV began. In March, Curry and Ousley were referred for an internal investigation.
Rowe’s announcement Monday stated that Curry and Ousley have agreed to write an apology to the complainants, and Ousley will complete prescribed Title IV trainings. “My office will also offer support for therapeutic and spiritual care to the complainants in keeping with Canon IV.8.1,” the announcement said, referring to the denomination’s Canons of the General Convention, its governing body.
In a letter to Rowe, Singh’s sons, Nivedhan and Eklan Singh, and his ex-wife, Roja Suganthy-Singh, called the pastoral response “deeply inadequate” and asked for a public apology that includes “specific acknowledgments of wrongdoing, harm caused, and concrete steps toward accountability.”
“They had the power and responsibility to act decisively while still in office, when their actions would have mattered most,” the