Free Republic

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...