Posted on 08/13/2006 4:28:18 PM PDT by sionnsar
The rumblings of Episcopalians at war are getting louder, and they are being heard in the distant reaches of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church (TEC) is the 2.3-million-member U.S. constituent of the fast-growing Communion, which claims nearly 80 million members in 38 provinces or regions, the majority of them in the predominantly conservative "global south."
TEC's waywardness in doctrine over the years, culminating in recent approval of gay sex and now rejection of Anglican calls to repentance, has landed it in deep trouble. Its conservatives are heading for the exits, and many in the Communion are poised to eject it—and designate a conservative alliance as the new official Anglican presence in North America.
As TEC breaks apart over doctrine, much of the struggle is focused on who owns parish property; TEC maintains that under a 1979 church law, it is held in trust for the denomination regardless of who paid for it.
Recently retired bishop William Swing of San Francisco is in charge of coordinating TEC legal efforts to bar departing parishes from taking their property with them. He and three other liberal California bishops have reached long and low to buttress their position. They accused wheelchair-bound conservative bishop John-David Schofield of Fresno of "abandoning the communion of this church," a first-ever for a TEC bishop.
A dubious claim (Schofield is widely known for his loyalty to traditional Anglican teaching), it was a move that sought to bypass due-process provisions of church law. His case would move quickly to the liberal-dominated House of Bishops, where, if found guilty, he could be summarily kicked out of the denomination. With him out of the way, TEC officials could press his traditionalist Diocese of San Joaquin to remove from its constitution certain language reserving power to the diocese.
The removal would strengthen TEC's contention in secular courts handling church property lawsuits that it is a hierarchical denomination. As such, it argues, it therefore is entitled to hold disputed property in trust; departing congregations can't keep it.
The issue is important because TEC stands to lose up to 1,000 or more congregations, including many of TEC's largest in attendance. Some conservative parishes heading for the exits are negotiating a buyout with bishops to keep their property, some are just walking away and leaving the keys—and a mortgage—behind, but still others are insisting that since they bought and maintained the property, it's theirs.
Lately, California courts, backed by U.S. Supreme Court guidance in 1979, have been judging property cases according to corporate law—and allowing congregations to keep their property. Denominational leaders fear the trend will spread to many more states.
Indeed, Swing warned Schofield in a letter later leaked to the press that if the San Joaquin constitution stands as amended over the past two years, it "puts all Episcopal dioceses [in California] in jeopardy" and "it will create chaos for all of us for all time."
Schofield rejects the "abandonment" accusations and says he will fight them. The church law Swing used against him applies to someone who joined another faith or who has openly renounced "the doctrine, discipline, or worship" of the church. Like Swing, some bishops have been applying it to dissident conservative clergy.
Bishop Andrew Smith of Connecticut used it to defrock a priest and take over his parish. Conservatives have now filed charges against Smith, claiming his actions violated church law. Unlike the Presbyterians and Methodists, however, TEC has no judicial system that would hold church leaders accountable to its laws.
Schofield will not face the House of Bishops anytime soon. TEC presiding bishop Frank Griswold this month canceled its autumn meeting. Griswold, who leaves office in November, has been meeting with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and other leaders to try to find a way for TEC to remain in the Communion.
With TEC status at stake, the last thing Griswold needs is a showcase trial where a group of intolerant liberal bishops succeeds in booting a soft-spoken, Bible-quoting, handicapped conservative bishop out of the church.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. I couldn't read the entire article. I've known of Episcopalians who have been refused termination of their membership. The church would only transfer their membership to another curch of the same denomination. Our clients (I work in a law office) only wanted their names deleted from the membership roll of the Episopalian church, not transferred to another church. The Episcopalian denomiation abandoned them (our clients) but our clients were not allowed to abandon the denomination.
FWIW... our church lost it's building in the 60s because we refused to go liberal. We were with the PCUSA at the time and finally went PCA.
My Church also refuses to go liberal, thank God.
I am in Seattle, where are you?
Do you have any idea how this is going in NC? I'm in the middle of exactly such a dispute with another hierarchical denomination.
Forget the membership rolls, just start attending the new church. They cannot FORCE you to stay or to donate money to them.
I am unaware of any NC parishes that are in this situation. Most NC parishes seem to be firmly in the grip of the diocese and the TEC worldview.
"Bishop" Swing is a New World Order operative (the "United Religions Initiative" and all that)!!!! It's very "interesting" that TEC has made him their enforcer!!
It's also "interesting" that ECUSA changed its name to THE Episcopal Church (TEC) just as the Anglican Communion gets ready to kick it out, and nearly every orthodox catholic church body, congregation, and individual Christian in the world disbelieves its legitimacy. "TEC" also sees itself as the center of a parallel worldwide "communion" to the real Anglican Communion. What an arrogant crock!!!!
I'm unaware of any recent cases out of North Carolina. California has favored the local churches which did their homework and set things up; Pennsylvania has favored the denominations.
I've indexed a few of the recent articles on FR under the "Churchproperty" keyword. If you see any I've missed, feel free to add it.
You might look at what happened when the PCA churches pulled out of the then PCUS in the early 1970s. That's the last time there were a large number of cases, and there were some in NC.
mark.
Thanks.
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