Posted on 05/12/2008 3:50:21 AM PDT by CalvaryJohn
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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 Court.
”The parish has been a valued member of our Diocese for over a century and the departure of parishioners, while regretted, will not end that storied history,” the diocese said in a statement posted on its Web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at theday.com ...
They do not care about the membership. They care about the property.
It’s not a church anymore.
Losers.
I am in a parish that is in the process of consolidating with the adjacent Episcopal church, located in the same town. As a result of this merger, we are going to have valuable real estate to sell, since we will have much more land than we need.
The Diocese is insisting that any proceeds from the sale be held in the Diocesan Trust, which is an investment vehicle under their control. This money will then be doled out, contingent on approval from the Standing Committee of the Diocese, for construction and improvement projects. In the event of a failure of the combined Parish to endure, the money will revert directly back to the Diocese.
This leads to a number of problems, the primary of which is that now we are worth much more to the Diocese dead than alive. It will be a long, long time before our fair share pledge adds up to the amount of money we are talking about, here. If the ship sinks, they get all the money right away. I am not saying that is the plan. Up to this point, I would ascribe their behavior, which is beyond ineffectual and bordering on destructive, to incompetence, rather than malice. But once that big pile of cash is sitting down there in their bank accounts, the scale may tip to out-and-out hostility.
I agree. I also think Jesus is even more appalled at the reasons behind this split in the Episcopal church - the deliberate disobedience to God's laws by many in the church leadership and a few outright heresies that have taken root in that church. The 60's bred a crop of leaders that are slowly destroying the church.
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I take issue with your use of the word "slowly"...
This thing is going to crater, and it won't take long.
Have you thought of using a long lease instead of selling. A 999 year lease is almost as good as a sale and would yield almost as much. I’m pretty sure the diocese would not attach the income stream which the parish earns.
You are a genius! I am going to bring that up at our next Vestry meeting. We are renting other properties, for which we keep the proceeds, so why not? Trinity Church in Manhattan owns and leases half of Downtown, and they are doing very well on that income.
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