Free Republic

Tulsa, Okla., September 9, 2008 – Tulsa County District Judge Jefferson Sellers ruled today that the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) and the Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery of the PCUSA (EOP) own the Kirk of the Hills property at 4102 E. 61st Street, under the denomination’s constitution... The Kirk of the Hills paid for the property over the last four decades and the deeds are in the Kirk Corporation’s name. ... The Kirk has been in a legal battle over this property since the Kirk withdrew from PCUSA denomination in August 2006. ...

A third lawsuit has been filed involving Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church, whose members voted 207-26 last year to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the more theologically conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church. On Monday the minority, who Washington Presbytery has declared the "true church," sued the majority, asking the Washington County Common Pleas Court to remove the officers of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and return all property to control of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Last year the majority sued Washington Presbytery, the local governing body of the Presbyterian Church (USA), for the right to keep all property. Last month Washington...

A Fairfax County judge dealt the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia a third defeat in their efforts to retain millions of dollars of church property being held by 11 breakaway congregations. On Tuesday, Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows ruled on whether the U.S. Constitution's contracts clause applies to the case and whether the breakaway churches had the right to invoke what's been termed the "division statute," an 1867 law that allows a majority of a breakaway church to retain the property. ... The diocese and the Episcopal Church had asserted in an Aug. 11 hearing that even if...

This year, in addition to Woodland Presbyterian Church in New Orleans, more than a dozen PCUSA congregations have left with their property from the denomination, or are seeking dismissal.

Anglican Churches Win on Constitutional Grounds Va. Court Upholds Constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute to End Episcopal Attempt to Seize Control Over Church Property FAIRFAX, Va. (June 27, 2008) – The 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia celebrated today’s Fairfax County Circuit Court ruling that confirms the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9). The 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). “We are pleased with Judge Bellows’ ruling today. After meticulous examination, the judge ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the Virginia Division...

A B.C. Supreme Court judge, Madam Justice Allan, has ordered the congregation of St. Mary of the Incarnation in Metchosin (St. Mary's), to hand over their church building to the diocese of B.C. in the Anglican Church of Canada, pending the resolution of a trial over who is entitled to ownership of the building. Like the two judges in the previous Niagara diocese's hearings, Mdm Justice Allan found that “the beneficial ownership of Church property is indeed an issue for future determination”, and she was only deciding the issue of who should have interim use of the property while that...

... St. Christopher's is now in the midst of its own realignment following a church split earlier this month. Gray has resigned, along with several members of its vestry. The parish has been returned to "mission status." Gray has been suspended from the priesthood. Gray, "a lifelong Episcopalian of 52 years," considers St. Christopher's a "microcosm" of what's occurring across the United States in the Episcopal Church. ... As for Gray, he plans to remain in Spartanburg. Gray said more than 70 people from St. Christopher's attended a worship service May 11 at a former parishioner's home. More than 100...

n the end, former members of Trinity Church in Bristol decided it wasn't worth the fight. The parishioners have settled their legal dispute with the Episcopal Diocese by agreeing to relinquish their historic church home. In return, both the diocese and the national Episcopal Church will withdraw their lawsuit against Trinity's priest and its leaders. ... Helmandollar said he and about 120 parishioners will worship this Sunday for the first time at their new home — the auditorium of the Greene-Hills Elementary School — under a new name, Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

The second of the three-phase trial to determine ownership of church properties now occupied by defectors from the Episcopal Church got underway in Fairfax yesterday, this phase centered on the constitutionality of an 1867 Virginia law. At issue is who will eventually own and occupy the properties such as the campus which is home to the historic Falls Church. ... Judge Bellows had ruled in April that the 1867 law was appropriate to apply in this dispute. That law, written in the wake of many divided congregations split over the Civil War, says that the property goes with defecting congregations....

A half-dozen national Protestant denominations are supporting the Episcopal Church in a multimillion-dollar Virginia property dispute, saying a state law at the heart of the case could threaten them, too. The United Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA), among others, have filed court briefs in the past few weeks supporting the Episcopal Church, which is fighting 11 breakaway Virginia congregations that say the national church has become too liberal on issues from salvation to sexuality. Majorities of those congregations voted to leave and are now in Fairfax County Circuit Court over who gets to keep the property. Experts say...

The regional governing body of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and representatives of the Stow Presbyterian Church have reached an agreement that allows the local congregation to keep the church property. The pact comes after 18 months of discussions between the Stow church and the Eastminster Presbytery, according to the Rev. Dan Schomer, who leads the Mineral Ridge-based presbytery, which includes 55 churches in Summit, Portage, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. ''The action to dissolve the congregation effectively severs the ties of the church to the denomination and permits it to continue its ministry as an independent congregation,'' Schomer said in...

COLORADO SPRINGS — An El Paso County District judge ruled Tuesday that the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado and officials of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish in Colorado Springs must resolve their $17 million property dispute at trial. District Judge Larry E. Schwartz concluded that he cannot make a decision based solely on matters of law because "there is virtually no agreement as to the facts."

Print This E-mail Link Send Letter Send Correction Groton (AP) - Connecticut's Episcopal Diocese has filed a lawsuit against the leadership of the Bishop Seabury Church, demanding it turn over control of the church property after voting to leave the national church in a dispute over theology and the appointment of a gay bishop. The Rev. Ronald Gauss was suspended from Bishop Seabury on May 3, when the diocese appointed another priest, the Rev. David Cannon, to take over. Rev. Gauss and 12 former and current church leaders were served this week with the lawsuit, which was filed in Superior...

A judge ruled April 8 in favor of the motion for a summary judgment filed six months earlier by First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif., which had been seeking quiet title to its property, as well as declaratory and injunctive relief, since March 2007. She also ruled against a competing motion for a summary judgment filed by the presbytery. *** "If you saw from the decision of the court, under California law, trusts are presumptively revocable unless the trust instrument makes them expressly irrevocable," he said. "And in the plain language, as we argued to the court, the plain language...

A judge in Fairfax County Court has ruled in favor of a group of 11 churches, all members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) who want to keep their properties. Last year they broke free from The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia and came under the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), the Nigerian branch of the Anglican Communion established in the United States. Judge Randy I. Bellows citing the Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9) said the churches could keep their property at least for the moment though the Episcopal Church is expected to...

"The Court agrees that it was major divisions such as those within the Methodist and Presbyterian churches that prompted the passage of 57-9. However, it blinks at reality to characterize the ongoing division within the Diocese, ECUSA, and the Anglican Communion as anything but a division of the first magnitude..."

Episcopal parishes awarded property, assets By Julia Duin April 4, 2008 A Fairfax circuit judge has awarded a favorable judgment to a group of 11 Anglican churches that were taken to court last fall after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006. In an 83-page opinion released late last night, Judge Randy Bellows ruled that Virginia's Civil War-era “division statute” granting property to departing congregations applies to the Northern Virginia congregations, which are now part of the Nigerian-administered Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

Two years ago, when Fr. Marek Bozek left his diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., to follow his heart and conscience to a Polish parish in St. Louis, he says he didn’t expect his kindly Springfield bishop, John Leibrecht, to suspend him. Nor did he expect that he would soon be cast by Catholic hopefuls as David to Archbishop Raymond Burke’s Goliath on a national stage. All he wanted, he says, was to provide the sacraments for a group of proud Catholic Poles, whose parish he believed had been unjustly suppressed. In an unusual arrangement dating back 200 years, St. Stanislaus...

Anglicans may be heading for a court fight with a Vancouver church after the congregation voted to leave the liberal Canadian church and affiliate with a more conservative South American group. On Feb. 13, the congregation of St. John's Shaughnessy in Vancouver voted more than 90 per cent in favour of leaving the church over doctrinal issues, including the blessing of same-sex marriages. The same day, the head of the church in Canada, Archbishop Fred Hiltz, warned in a letter that Anglicans who leave the church must give up any claim to church property or assets. However, a spokeswoman for...

McDonnell: “As a matter of federal constitutional law, the Episcopal Church is simply wrong.” BB NOTE: The Motion is here and the Brief is here. FAIRFAX, Va. (January 11, 2008) – Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell has filed a motion to intervene and a brief in the ongoing church property litigation that is being heard by Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows involving eleven congregations that separated from the Episcopal Church in 2006 and 2007 and joined the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). In his brief, Attorney General McDonnell defended the constitutionality of the Virginia Division Statute (Virginia...

The Diocese of Virginia is taking out a $2 million "line of credit" to pursue lawsuits against a dozen parishes that have fled their ecclesiastical grip. Revenues from remaining parishes have fallen short of expectations as parishes cease to pledge or fall behind on their payments. The diocese also plans to sell "real properties" to raise cash. The Virginia Episcopalian, the official publication of the Diocese of Virginia, is reporting in its current edition that the Executive Board has "authorized the treasurer to open a $1 million line of credit to cover anticipated legal expenses for the near-term. That line...

-snip- Except for eight parishes that were incorporated separately or existed before the diocese was formed, Bishop John-David Schofield, who led the schism, holds legal title to about 40 churches in the Central Valley diocese. “We hold that there is no legal ownership of the property beyond the bishop (Schofield),” said Bill Gandenberger of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin. “The question about property will have to be solved by the courts if, and when, the Episcopal Church (USA) initiates actions.” -snip- The remaining churches that voted against the decision were St. Anne in Stockton and St. John the Baptist...

A legal complaint pitting a Mississippi congregation that left the Presbyterian Church (USA) against the Presbytery of Mississippi has been returned to state court by a federal judge. Grace Chapel Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Madison, Miss., is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent Mississippi Presbytery from violating a final declaratory judgment that resolved a property ownership lawsuit that the church brought against the presbytery in March. Mississippi Presbytery moved the church's request to U.S. District Court within 30 days of its Aug. 29 filing, saying there was a federal question about the free exercise of religion under the First...

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Washington Presbytery officials are expected in court on Friday to contest a claim to church property by a western Pennsylvania congregation that voted to leave the national church. A property dispute arose after members of the Peters Creek Presbyterian Church voted in November to leave the Presbyterian Church USA and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church based in Livonia, Mich.

It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church. One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the...

Two of the largest churches in Sacramento Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will leave the denomination with their properties for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church on Jan. 1, now that their dismissal requests have been approved. Presbytery commissioners agreed at their stated meeting Dec. 4 to dismiss Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Fair Oaks, Calif., the presbytery's largest with 2,286 members, and First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif., the presbytery's third-largest with 1,143 members. The vote totals were 146-18 for the Fair Oaks Church's dismissal, said Bill Cole, an elder and spokesman for that church, and 153-11 for the Roseville...

First Presbyterian Church of Quincy and the Presbytery of Great Rivers have reached an agreement that will allow the church an orderly transfer to a different denomination while keeping its building and grounds. First Presbyterian will pay the presbytery $196,000 on Jan. 9, a figure that allows the church to be sole owner of the property and facilities at 1027 S. 24th. The agreement also releases both parties from any future claims, damages or demands. *** First Presbyterian Church also will change its name before March. Part of the agreement with the presbytery allows First Presbyterian to temporarily use that...

A magistrate in Summit County Common Pleas Court has ruled that the property at Hudson Presbyterian Church belongs to the faction of the congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Magistrate John Shoemaker on Friday rejected the argument of the Eastminster Presbytery that all property of the church is held in trust for the denomination as outlined in the PCUSA constitution. - snip - He also said that the presbytery's attorney is filing objections to the magistrate's ruling because it contradicts the denomination's constitution.

A conservative Episcopal parish in Marlborough is bolting the denomination, in the latest indication that even in liberal Massachusetts the Episcopal Church is losing congregations over its support for gay rights. Holy Trinity Church in Marlborough is leaving behind its building, renting space in a nearby Methodist church, and affiliating with the Anglican Mission in the Americas, which is overseen by the Episcopal Church of Rwanda. The small Marlborough congregation, with about 70 active members, is following a national trend in which conservative Episcopal congregations are leaving the Episcopal Church USA to affiliate with theologically like-minded Anglican provinces in Africa....

Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church was dismissed from the Pittsburgh Presbytery yesterday so it could join a more conservative denomination -- the first of what could be several votes over divisive theological and ecclesiastical questions. - snip - According to the settlement between the presbytery and the 400-member church, Beverly Heights will keep its building and land -- together valued at more than $1 million -- and the rights to its name. In exchange, it will pay the presbytery $250,000 over 10 years and forfeit $46,655 in a trust account. - snip -

Two of the largest churches in the Sacramento Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (USA) are requesting that the presbytery dismiss them to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in Fair Oaks, Calif., the presbytery's largest congregation with 2,286 members, and First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif., the presbytery's third-largest congregation with 1,143 members, held congregational votes Oct. 14 on seeking dismissal. At Fair Oaks, 1,179 voted to request dismissal and 39 voted to stay in the PCUSA, the church's Web site stated. About 1,700 members were at the worship service that preceded the vote and 1,218 of them...

A meeting meant for current members of Christ Church drew mostly former parishioners and other local Episcopalians to discuss the decision by leaders of the historic congregation to break away from the national Episcopal Church. -snip- The bishop assured the group that Christ Church belongs to the diocese and the national Episcopal Church. But taking control of the building, endowment and other assets will involve lawyers, he said. "(Christ Church officials) are in the building. Therefore, they will be in the building until this issue comes to the courts," Louttit said.

In a case that potentially may affect many California congregations – including some in the Presbyterian Church (USA) – that seek to be declared the owners of their church properties, the state's Supreme Court unanimously has agreed to review a lower court's ruling regarding property issues. The Sept. 12 decision came in response to a petition by three Episcopal congregations – St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, All Saints' Church in Long Beach and St. David's Anglican Church in North Hollywood – that sought the review in an effort to overturn a July ruling by Division Three of the...

Copyright complaint. No excerpts. Summary: Conservatives split off. Remaining loyalists wanted to meet and see if they could maintain a viable church. The United Methodists padlocked the building, and demanded no activity there while they conducted a study to see if a viable church remained in the padlocked, empty building.

HUNTINGTON, Ind. - A judge has upheld a vote by a northeastern Indiana congregation to leave the United Church of Christ over the denomination's recognition of homosexual marriage. Special Judge David L. Hanselman Sr. dissolved a temporary restraining order that had prevented St. Peter's First United Church of Christ in Huntington from leaving the United Church of Christ and denied the denomination's claim on the assets of the church. The restraining order had been in place since October 2005. Church members Paul Krieg and William Kruzan had won it following a 115-92 vote the month before by members of the...

Judge Upholds Decision of Church to Leave Denomination Over Homosexual "Marriage" By Elizabeth O'Brien HUNTINGTON, July 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Indiana judge upheld the decision of a church congregation to leave the United Church of Christ (UCC) because of the denomination's official recognition of gay "marriage." St. Peter's First United Church of Christ has been part of the UCC for 50 years, the Indianapolis Star reports. The congregation was concerned, however, when the UCC voiced its official support for homosexual "marriage" in 2005. At its 25th General Synod the UCC declared that the 1.3-million organization officially supported same-sex "marriage"....

In a dramatic illustration of the unhappiness among conservative Episcopalians in the United States, an Episcopal priest from the North Shore has decided to become a bishop of the Anglican Church of Kenya. The Rev. William L. Murdoch, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in West Newbury, will fly to Nairobi next month for his consecration as a Kenyan bishop, then return to Massachusetts to minister to other disaffected conservatives who are leaving the Episcopal Church over its 2003 decision to ordain an openly gay priest as the bishop of New Hampshire. Murdoch's congregation, which averages about 300 worshipers each...

An Indiana church that was granted its request to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) late last year is now being sued by the Presbytery of Ohio Valley and the Synod of Lincoln Trails over the church's property. Olivet Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Evansville is one of two defendants in the lawsuit, which was filed July 2 in Vanderburgh County Circuit Court in Evansville. The other defendant is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, which the Olivet congregation joined after leaving the PCUSA. ... 6. Require "an accounting of the accounts for … funds received by the defendants before and after...

Seven Southern California congregations previously affiliated with The Episcopal Church were sued on multiple counts in civil court recently. For at least one it will be the third time it will face an ownership challenge over title to the church property. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church USA, the corporate arm of The Episcopal Church, is a plaintiff against all seven, four of which were formerly part of the Diocese of Los Angeles. The other three were previously affiliated with the Diocese of San Diego. The seven continue to worship at the same locations they...

Citing more than 30 years of growing dissatisfaction with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and one of its predecessor denominations, Kishwaukee Community Presbyterian Church in Stillman Valley, Ill., has scheduled a congregational vote June 24 on whether to request dismissal from the PCUSA. The church's senior pastor, the Rev. Eric Geil, expects an overwhelming majority of the 407-member congregation to vote for the dismissal request. -snip- In exchange for being dismissed with its property, the church has made a $50,000 "friendship offering" that represents five years of per-capita payments to the presbytery, Geil said. Presbytery trustees will discuss the offer, he...

A small, financially struggling Texas church's request for dismissal from the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property has been granted by Mission Presbytery. But the cost of freedom is steep for Faith Presbyterian Church in Brownsville: 10 percent of the proceeds from the expected sale of the church property in the next few years. The church needs the money to have a pastor for the first time in 15 months, said Janet Schooley, its clerk of session. -snip- When a final dismissal plan is agreed to by the presbytery and the church, it will free Faith Presbyterian Church to seek...

With its pastor citing "25 years of accumulated frustration" with the Presbyterian Church (USA), First Presbyterian Church in Quincy, Ill., has scheduled a congregational vote June 24 on whether to request dismissal from the denomination. The session made a unanimous recommendation for the resolution at its meeting April 16. The June 24 vote will ask the congregation to resolve to ask Great Rivers Presbytery to dismiss the church to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Bakker said he received a letter two weeks ago from the presbytery stating that if his church is dismissed with its property, the presbytery wants $550,000 in...

A Huntsville, Ala., church can leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property, thanks to the resolution of a lawsuit brought by the church against North Alabama Presbytery. But the settlement comes with a price for Central Presbyterian Church: $250,000 to be paid to the presbytery by the end of 2010 – including $100,000 within the next 30 days, when the agreement officially closes.

The Ohio attorney general's office has sided with Eastminster Presbytery in a lawsuit brought against it by a church seeking to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property. The response filed by Attorney General Marc Dann seeks a summary judgment declaring that Hudson Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, holds all of its property and assets in a charitable trust that must "provide the public with a PCUSA-style church with the attendant community benefits of such a church." The summary judgment, Dann argues, also should declare that Hudson Presbyterian Church "may not apply the corpus of that trust for a...

Both sides in the case of a Washington County church that obtained a temporary restraining order against Washington Presbytery have agreed to work out ground rules that will enable them to negotiate further about when and how Peters Creek Presbyterian Church can leave the Presbyterian Church (USA). Although both sides must first approve the details, "they promised not to take a vote to leave without 10 days' notice and we promised not to remove the pastor or [lay governing board] without 10 days' notice," said the Rev. David Bleivik, executive presbyter of Washington Presbytery. Consequently, a hearing scheduled for yesterday...

Expressing "deep regret and sorrow," the Presbytery of East Tennessee has voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the 1,965-member Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with all its property. "Considering and weighing all factors, including the absence of any identifiable PCUSA remnant in Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church," an administrative review committee stated in its report to the presbytery, the committee "concludes that the Presbytery of East Tennessee should, with deep regret and sorrow, dismiss Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with all its property, real or personal, without condition." *** 2....

The mother of all lawsuits pitting Episcopalian against Anglican kicks off today in the red-brick confines of Fairfax County Circuit Court. The case has amassed numerous court filings involving 11 churches, two dozen lawyers, 107 individuals, the 90,000-member Diocese of Virginia, the 2.3 million-member Episcopal Church and the 18.5 million-member Anglican Province of Nigeria. The Episcopal Church and its Virginia Diocese are suing 11 churches, their clergy and lay leaders for leaving the diocese last winter in order to join the Nigerian province. Since the 2003 consecration of the openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, conservatives have been...

PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (AP) — Bishop Thomas J. Rodi says he is deeply saddened by a lawsuit filed by more than 150 members of Holy Family Parish, formerly St. Paul Parish in Pass Christian.The suit, filed May 1, names Rodi, the Diocese of Biloxi and Holy Family pastor the Rev. Dennis Carver as defendants. The bishop's response was published Friday in the Gulf Pine Catholic, the diocese's newspaper, and was reprinted on http://www.sunherald.com.The lawsuit asks the court to compel the diocese to rebuild the church on the beach and get an accounting of donations made to the church after Hurricane...

A small congregation in Mississippi has been granted its request to be dismissed from the Presbyterian Church (USA) with its property. But the dismissal comes with a price: a $30,000 gift to be "placed in an appropriate fund," according to St. Andrew Presbytery. By voice vote, presbytery commissioners agreed at their stated meeting May 1 to dismiss the 94-member French Camp Presbyterian Church in French Camp, Miss. The vote comes nearly nine months after the session made a written request to the presbytery to be "graciously" released with its property. The French Camp church will be received into the smaller,...

Within the Episcopal Church, there is an ongoing story of litigation, most of which is filed by revisionist diocesan bishops and directed against churches wishing to leave the Episcopal Church. Stacy Sauls, bishop of the Diocese of Lexington, chairs a committee concerned with how to deal with property issues in the Episcopal Church, and how to fight against the "horrible" American Anglican Council and Anglican Communion Network. It turns out that the Episcopal Church, in the spirit of ecumenism, is secretly working with the Presbyterians, who have been at this a little longer than the Episcopal Church has. In fact,...