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JACKSONVILLE, FL: Parish fires back with lawsuit at Bishop John Howard Redeemer parish argues it paid for church site By JEFF BRUMLEY The Times-Union April 30, 2006 A Jacksonville parish sued by its former bishop over property rights has fired back in court papers, claiming financial and theological grounds for staying in its Southside church building. Bishop John Howard filed suit in Duval County circuit court in March against the Church of the Redeemer -- now known as Redeemer Anglican Church -- demanding its rector and lay leaders hand over the property because the parish quit the Episcopal Diocese of...

Episcopal Bishop John Howard has turned to the courts to force a Southside Jacksonville congregation to turn its church over to the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. Howard filed a lawsuit in Duval County this week demanding that the rector and lay leadership at the Church of the Redeemer hand over the keys and all other parish property to his Jacksonville-based diocese. The lawsuit contends that Episcopal congregations hold their property in trust for the diocese and that Redeemer forfeited its property rights by quitting the diocese in January. The Rev. Neil Lebhar, rector at the Church of the Redeemer, called...

Information from the Office of the Bishop… Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I have this afternoon sent the following letter to the rector, wardens and vestry of Grace Episcopal Church in Orange Park who have been advertising widely their attempt to leave our church and diocese and place their church under the direct control of an African bishop. The letter was sent to them as a reminder of their canonical and legal duties to our diocese and to our church. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -...

A "good-sized second wave" of at least eight conservative Northeast Florida churches will be following six that have already quit the Episcopal Diocese of Florida to realign themselves with Worldwide Anglican Communion, two local priests said Friday. One of the original "Florida Six" cut ties with the Jacksonville-based diocese and its denomination, the Episcopal Church USA, in November and now worships at the University of North Florida. The remaining five -- All Souls and Church of the Redeemer in Jacksonville, Grace Church in Orange Park, St. Michael's in Gainesville and St. Luke's Community of Life in Gainesville -- formally ended...

​​​​The Rev. Alex Farmer resigned as rector of St. Michael's on Monday, and in a letter posted on the church's Web site announced he and members of the congregation would be beginning a new ministry, Servants of Christ Anglican Church, that will meet at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, 3536 NW 8th Ave., at 5 p.m. Sunday. St. Michael's is part of the Episcopal Church USA, which is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is one of 77 congregations in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, which is based in Jacksonville, and was one of six churches that petitioned the Bishop,...

On January 1, 2006, St. James Episcopal Church of Macclenny resigned its longtime affiliation with the Episcopal Church USA. On-going revisionist trends in the National Episcopal Church have resulted in disputes over doctrine and scriptural interpretation, particularly church sanctioned same-sex marriages and the appointment of homosexuals to prominent clerical positions. The election and consecration in 2004 of Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as the ninth Bishop of New Hampshire has been at the heart of the current debate. The former St. James thus becomes the seventh congregation in the Diocese of Florida to break away from the Episcopal denomination,...