Leonard Riches Sr., presiding bishop emeritus of the Reformed Episcopal Church and former president of the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, has died at 85
He played key roles in revitalizing the church, reaffirming its Anglican traditions, and establishing the new Anglican Church in North America in 2009.
Leonard Riches Sr., 85, of Pipersville, Bucks County, former presiding bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, onetime president and professor emeritus of liturgics and theology at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, church rector, mentor, and longtime Phillies fan, died Sunday, Dec. 29, of kidney failure at Doylestown Hospital.
A significant leader in the Reformed Episcopal Church for more than 50 years, Bishop Riches played key roles in revitalizing the church, reaffirming its Anglican traditions, and establishing the new Anglican Church in North America in 2009. He was bishop ordinary of the Reformed Episcopal Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions from 1984 to 2008, and presiding bishop of the entire Reformed Episcopal denomination from 1996 to 2014.
He was active in leadership for the evolving Federation of the Anglican Churches in the Americas from 2006 to 2008 and became senior bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. In a tribute, Robert W. Duncan, the first ACNA archbishop, said Bishop Riches’ “wisdom and presence were an abiding gift to me personally and to the whole movement.”
Current Presiding Bishop Ray R. Sutton praised Bishop Riches’ “illustrious ministry spanning well over half a century” in a Facebook tribute and said: “His life and work were an exemplary model of a servant of God.”
As a national figure, Bishop Riches spoke in churches and elsewhere around the country for years, and began lecturing at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia in 1965. He became a professor and served as seminary president from 1982 to 1990 and 1995 to 1998.
He was a mentor to many and chancellor for a time at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary. He also held visiting professorships at Cranmer Theological House in Louisiana and Sangre de Cristo Seminary in Colorado before retiring in 2015.
“It was a privilege to know him, and he was one of those ordained ministers who makes one proud to wear the REC ‘jersey.’”
His sermons were meticulously researched and organized, colleagues said, and his son Jonathan said he spoke with “care and passion.” Drew Collins, rector of St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Savannah, Ga., said in a tribute: “I thank God for the faithful ministry of Leonard Wayne Riches.”
Bishop Riches was ordained as a deacon in 1964 and presbyter in 1965, and served as rector at St. Luke’s Church in Philadelphia, First Church in New York, and St. Mark’s Church in Jenkintown. He earned a master of divinity degree from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 1964, studied theology at what is now United Lutheran Seminary, and received honorary doctorate of divinity degrees from the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in 1976 and Cranmer Theological House in 1997.
Friends noted his “kindness” and “humility” in a Facebook tribute, and said: “He was a phenomenal teacher and preacher as well as a most gracious leader in turbulent times.”
Leonard Wayne Riches was born March 21, 1939, in Philadelphia. His parents joined the Reformed Episcopal Church when he was young, and he was a member of Memorial Church of Our Redeemer and then Calvary Reformed Episcopal Church.
His family later moved from Northeast Philadelphia to Audubon, and he graduated from Audubon High School in South Jersey. He was interested in religious philosophy and earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature at Princeton University in 1961. He was also active with what is now the Princeton Christian Fellowship.
He met Barbara Martin at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and they married in 1964 and had sons Leonard Jr. and Jonathan. They lived in Frankford, New York, and Jenkintown before moving to Pipersville in 1981.
Bishop Riches was an avid baseball fan, and he started following the Phillies in the 1940s and ’50s. He loved animals, rescued many of them, and made it a point to care for injured wildlife he encountered. The Philadelphia Zoo, particularly the elephant habitat, was one of his favorite places.
He took his family on summer vacations to Colorado, Vermont, and elsewhere, and they crossed the country with a camper in tow. Friends in Tinicum Township called him the St. Francis of Four Brooks. “He deeply loved his family, the church, and all God’s creatures,” his family said in a tribute.
His son Jonathan said: “He was loving, witty, and compassionate to all living things.”
In addition to his wife and sons, Bishop Riches is survived by four grandchildren, two great-grandsons, a brother, and other relatives.
Services were held in January.
Donations in his name may be made to the Anglican Church in North America, Box 447, Ambridge, Pa. 15003; and the Elephant Sanctuary, Box 393, Hohenwald, Tenn. 38462.