Rubrics? Pshaw! Canons? Phooey! Doctrine? Don't be ridiculous! But the mazuma, the gelt, the moolah, the folding lettuce? For that they will fight.
I've said it before and I will no doubt say it again: back when I thought the TEC cared about vows qua vows, I called 815 to talk about the lack of support for someone who was pressured (like $1k per day contempt fine) to violate the seal of the confessional. I was told that breaking the at that time freshly passed rubric that the seal was "morally absolute" was "the way we make theology".
Evidently that is not the case when it comes down to money or real estate. That is the one area of doctrine which most bishops and Standing Committees hold sacred and immutable.
Oh, hey, no, I'm not bitter. After all, I wasn't making a whole lot of money as a priest, and my tweeds were getting threadbare.
This is where the Archbishop of Canterbury & the rest of the Communion Primates could have a profound effect & they need to act SOON! If the ABC & the rest of the Anglican Communion says that TEC has abandoned the Communion & then recognize the Anglican Communion Network & it's partners as the authentic Anglican Church in the U.S., I think it would cause the Denis Canon to be invalid & unenforceable by the civil courts. You see, the Denis Canon says that the dioceses hold the property in trust for the National Church. If TEC is no longer the National Church in the eyes of the rest of the Anglican Communion, neither the TEC nor their diocesans should not be able to lay claim to parish property, assets, or endowments.
Of course, I've been told that I know just enough about the law to get myself into trouble...but I still think there's certainly nothing to lose & everything to gain if the ABC & Primates would only act decisively to toss TEC out on it's ear & recognize some other entity as the provincial See in the U.S.