Posted on 01/10/2007 9:06:55 AM PST by rabscuttle385
VirtueOnline reported last night that the Diocese of Virginia may be reneging on its protocol for departing congregations and may pursue litigation after Jan. 17, 2007 against The Falls Church, Truro Church, and other churches that voted to depart TEC and join CANA in December 2006 parish votes. The Diocese will not renew a thirty-day standstill on litigation or property transfers. The announcement followed a meeting between Diocesan leadership and David Booth Beers, chancellor of The Episcopal Church. TEC has indicated that it will intervene on behalf of the Diocese.
From The Episcopal Church & The Diocese of Virginia:
Jan. 9, 2007 Press Release from The Diocese of Virginia
"The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia announced today that it will not renew the 30 day standstill agreement with the clergy and members of congregations who voted to leave the Episcopal Church to associate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria."
Coverage from The Episcopal Church's Web site
Reaction from The Falls Church:
"We are greatly saddened by this regrettable decision by the Diocese. We urge the Diocese and The Episcopal Church to return, with all the Christian charity each of us can muster, to the important work of reaching amicable settlements," said the Rev. John Yates, Rector, The Falls Church.
Jan. 9, 2007 Press Release from The Falls Church & Truro Church
Mainstream Media Coverage:
Quote from VirtueOnline coverage:
"For the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia to pursue a lawsuit over the property of the Falls Church, Truro Church and those Virginia congregations who affiliate with them is to express the most vicious kind of tyranny and intolerance. Given the broken state of the Anglican Communion, it is an action without moral excuse. Under the guise of honoring the original intent of the donors of that property, the Episcopal Church has elevated avarice to an ethical principle employed for the pursuit of wealth and power. It is a charade as old as the Garden of Eden. Any churchgoer with any moral integrity should be outraged," said the Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, rector of the Church of the Good Samaritan, one of the largest orthodox parishes in the Northeast in Paoli, Pennsylvania.
This story is developing...
Anglican ping
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The world go around
Money makes the world go around
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A buck or a pound
A buck or a pound
Is all that makes the world go around,
That clinking clanking sound
Can make the world go 'round.
There's Christians and then there's tyranical lefties.
The church I attend (Apostles) is one that will likely be sued.
This is about more than money. This is heritage, sacred objects, burial plots, monuments, tithings, and objects donated in memory of loved ones.
Hope everything works out.
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Seems stupid of the diocese, and TEC, considering that these churches existed a century BEFORE there was a diocese of Va.
This may well work out in the long run....as these Churches have excellent lawyers on their side, with excellent legal reasoning, I'm sure.
No matter how the main stream media spin it, it's still a large rich denomination against individual churches...and that large rich denomination, since it is shrinking fast, is getting less popular all the time....and this has to be the worst kind of PR for TEC.
It's a mark of Schori's lack of experience that she's letting Beers and the lawyers run the show--as given the schism crisis anyone with a modicum of political savvy would quickly and quietly settle--especially with politically connected Washington DC area churches. If the churches do this rightly, it will only be TEC with a black eye, whether or not, they win back the properties.
In the worst case, TEC couldn't handle such expensive properties with only token congregations--and they would be stupid to try. This may well be a legal tactic to enact the largest pound of flesh ($$$) from these churches possible, but all that money will be less than the negative publicity TEC will garner for itself.
That just leaves a bad taste. I'd just want to say BACK OFF if I were the diocese. Of course, in this case the diocese has no backbone. Just what is the point of even having dioceses if the national church is constantly interfering at the local level? (aside from maintaining the episcopal structure.) The hierarchy has broken down and the diocese is welcoming it! If I were the bishop of VA I would be terribly offended and embarrassed. All theology aside for the moment, in the business world, and let's remember that this is exactly what TEC is making the church into - a business, the CEO (the Presiding Bishop) has no place in trying to discipline an individual (i.e. a parish). There is a chain of command in place that needs to be followed, otherwise TEC is no longer Episcopal (which, of course, we already knew). (And it sure isn't The Church - Rome would have fun with that!)
It is my understanding that Virginia laws are somewhat sympathetic to the local parishes. There is also a critical mass of Christians able to fund the litigation costs for the parishes. This probably is not a good place for liberals to institute a test case and is thus a sign of their desperation.
The properties in question, large church buildings, both including historic properties (i.e. they could not be sold off as commercial property, as the county and state would permit no significant changes on them) would be of no use to TEC to try to (re)start tiny token denominations. (How many growing large liberal churches do you know of?) To the TEC, these properties would be classic white elephants.
I am sure these lawsuits are merely intimidation tactics to try to garner large cash settlements from these congregations. Since these congregations have shamed TEC, TEC's foxhounds want to make them leave paying with a big of a pound of flesh as possible. This is an old standard legal blackmail technique for certain, and par for the course, for TEC, apostate.
The congregations were willing to make large cash settlements. Beers would rather have a large empty building than one filled with Bible believing worshipers.
The Falls Church was originally donated to the Anglican church - how do the Episcipalians figure that they own it?
That's a good question. The reality is...they don't. The larger, wealthier churches (like TFC and Truro) possess the deeds and title to their property, in the parishes' legal names. The new law here in Virginia allowing churches to incorporate, plus the Civil War statues allowing dissenting parishes to take their property with them, do not bode well for TEC and The Diocese.
Yeah, I was wondering about that - can the TEC produce a title deed?
If not...
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