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John McCain has been hammering rival Barack Obama for being little more than a vapid "celebrity" and "elitist." But The Nation has obtained a photo revealing just how star-struck a straight-talking maverick can become when offered the chance to celebrate his birthday aboard a yacht filled with celebrities--even if one of those celebrity types turns out to be an A-list con man. The photograph substantiates reports that in late August, 2006, McCain celebrated his 70th birthday aboard a yacht, the Celine Ashley, rented by A-list con man Raffaello Follieri and his then-movie star girlfriend Anne Hathaway. In the current edition...

A judge has ruled that a Mississippi church – not the Presbyterian Church (USA) – owns its property. In First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) of Starkville Mississippi vs. Presbytery of St. Andrew, the Presbyterian Church (USA) Inc., the Honorable H.J. Davidson Jr., granted the church’s motion for summary judgment “affirming its right to hold title to its property without interference of claim from the PCUSA.” FPC-Starkville filed a lawsuit in early 2015 with the Chancery Court of Oktibbeha County in Miss., asking for a declaratory judgment “recognizing that FPC Starkville alone is the absolute, full, exclusive, fee simple owner of all...

A Texas megachurch that recently voted to leave Presbyterian Church (USA) over theological differences agreed to pay its former regional body approximately $1.5 million to maintain control of its church property. First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio announced Sunday that it reached a settlement with Mission Presbytery over retaining ownership of its name and property. "Under the terms of the settlement, FPC will provide $1,525,000 to the denomination. Mission Presbytery will contribute $125,000 of this amount to the John Knox Ranch Summer Camp," read the announcement. "The contribution to the camp provides one quarter of the $1 million being raised...

In a development that few Episcopalians of four or five years ago could have imagined, the Episcopal bishops of the most powerful and financially secure dioceses have begun to turn on their own once-strong, but now severely weakened, parishes. Having driven out all the dissenters at enormous expense to their coffers, these dioceses are increasingly trying to make up their losses by sacrificing valuable real estate -- even if it means turning out previously loyal congregations from their hard-won property. And -- who could have foreseen it? -- the parishes most harmed by the continuous litigation were precisely those with...

Excerpt - Federal prosecutors charged Raffaello Follieri, an Italian entrepreneur and former business partner of California billionaire Ron Burkle, with funding a lavish lifestyle by using money from a real-estate venture that was supposed to capitalize on his alleged Vatican ties to redevelop surplus Catholic Church properties. ~ snip ~ A criminal complaint filed by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan Tuesday alleged that Mr. Follieri stole hundreds of thousands of dollars of investor money to pay for a $37,000-a-month New York apartment where he lived for a time with Ms. Hathaway; private jet travel; expensive restaurants and clothes; medical expenses,...

Grace presbytery has stripped Joseph B. Rightmyer of his ordination as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The presbytery’s Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) ruling found Rightmyer guilty on eight counts related to the process that resulted in the departure of Highland Park Presbyterian Church from the denomination. ... Rightmyer was ordained by the Atlanta presbytery in 1972. He served faithfully for more than 40 years

Yet another megachurch has announced that it will spend millions to officially separate itself from Presbyterian Church (USA), a denomination that has, in recent years, experienced turmoil over what critics decry as an increasingly liberal theology. Nearly 89 percent of the congregation at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, voted in October 2013 to leave the denomination and to join the more theologically conservative Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians — a decision that carries with it a hefty price tag. The church will need to pay $7.8 million in order to officially leave Presbyterian Church (USA) and keep its...

MODESTO – The Episcopal-Anglican battle in Stanislaus County got very personal this week when the Episcopal faction filed a lawsuit against St. Francis Anglican Church in Turlock seeking control of the its assets. The suit was filed Monday in Stanislaus Superior Court by the Rev. Jerry Lamb, bishop of the Modesto-based Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin. It names the Rev. Gerald "Gerry" Grossman and nine members of the church's vestry, or ruling body, as well as the St. Francis parish as defendants. St. Francis is the first parish in the diocese to face an individual lawsuit in the dispute that...

Dear Diocesan Family, A panel of the Virginia Supreme Court will hear our petition for appeal on October 21 and, while it is unfortunate that these legal proceedings were necessary, I trust that this hearing will bring us one step closer to resolution. I am proud that the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church have chosen the path consistently to defend loyal Episcopalians, and to safeguard and to protect the Church's legacy and the Church from unwarranted governmental and legislative interference. It is with the same determination to stand by the people, traditions and legacy of our diocese that...

The Episcopal Church filed suit Tuesday to regain control of Fort Worth-area church buildings and other property held by a breakaway contingent led by Bishop Jack Iker. "We're stewards of property that has been given for generations to the Episcopal Church. We can't just let people walk off with it," said Kathleen Wells, chancellor for the reorganized Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. The suit was filed in Tarrant County district court and names Iker as a defendant, among others. -snip-

Why would a state legislature even consider such a bill as #1098, completely stripping bishops and priests of their executive control over dioceses and parishes?  Why are they not remotely afraid of the consequences of such an unconstitutional overstepping of power?  Answer: Because these legislators have no fear of the bishops.  Specifically, they do not fear the electoral consequences, the loss of Catholic votes.  The Connecticut legislators who introduced this don't think they will lose any Catholic support taking on the authority of the Catholic Church.  What the feminists failed to do -- "reform" the Catholic Church -- the gay...

Members of All Souls Anglican Church had to walk away from their home in 2007, after the Episcopal Diocese said they could no longer worship there. Now the diocese is walking away from the empty 5.3-acre All Souls campus in Mandarin, putting it up for sale for $2.8 million. But the former occupants say "no thanks" to coming back as they hone in on a new, permanent home nearby.

PITTSBURGH - The Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh is asking the court to secure $20 million in assets it says were wrongfully taken by conservative parishes that chose to breakaway from the liberal diocese.

San Francisco (AP) -- The state's high court has prohibited three Southern California parishes who left the U.S. Episcopal Church over its ordination of gay ministers from retaining ownership of their church buildings and property. In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court ruled that the property belongs to the Episcopal Church because the parishes agreed to abide by the mother church's rules, which include specific language about property ownership.

McLEAN--Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia, including St. Stephen's Church in Heathsville, have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality. The final rulings came yesterday from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. Several previous rulings also had gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal. Eleven...

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality. The final rulings came Friday from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. Several previous rulings had also gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal. Eleven Virginia congregations...

Members of the area’s largest Episcopal congregation have established a new religious corporation and purchased a former synagogue in the Town of Tonawanda, as they move ahead with plans to split from the Diocese of Western New York. =snip= St. Bartholomew’s Christian Church paid $750,000 for the 37,000-square-foot facility and expects to make another $125,000 in changes and improvements, said the Rev. Arthur W. Ward Jr., longtime rector of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. =snip= Ward and other parish clergy have asked Bishop J. Michael Garrison of the Diocese of Western New York for a transfer to the Diocese of Argentina,...

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...