News
2007-06-28
Court rules
against Episcopal breakaways
Buildings used by
three Episcopal parishes that broke away from the
mother church in a dispute over a gay bishop should be
placed u
Buildings used by
three Episcopal parishes that broke away from the
mother church in a dispute over a gay bishop should be
placed under the control of the Los Angeles diocese, a
California appeals court ruled.
Relying on church
law, a panel of the state's fourth district court of
appeal ruled Monday, ''The right of the general church in
this case to enforce a trust on the local parish
property is clear.''
But the three
judges on the panel made it clear they were staying out of
doctrinal disputes.
''Readers will
look in vain in this opinion for any indication of what
religious controversy may have prompted the
disaffiliation,'' Judge David G. Sills wrote. ''That
controversy is irrelevant to this action.''
The appeals court
reversed lower court rulings in favor of the three
conservative parishes--St. James Church in Newport Beach,
All Saints Church in Long Beach, and St. David's
Church in North Hollywood.
They pulled out
of the six-county Los Angeles Diocese and the 2.3-million
member Episcopal Church USA in 2004, following the
ordination of a gay bishop in the diocese of New
Hampshire. They announced they were placing themselves
under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in Uganda.
The Los Angeles
diocese sued to gain control of the properties, arguing
that the parishes held their church buildings in trust for
the diocese and the national Episcopal Church and were
not entitled to them.
The churches
argued the diocese's lawsuit to seek control of the
properties interfered with the parishioners' freedom of
speech. The lower-court judge said the churches had
demonstrated they were being sued for their
disagreement with the church's views concerning the
consecration of homosexual clergy and also ruled that the
local churches owned the property.
Diocese officials
were pleased by the decision.
''Now we can get
about the business of healing and about the business of
being a church. It's been a long ordeal,'' said the Right
Reverend J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the diocese.
Eric Sohlgren,
lead lawyer for the three parishes, said the decision ran
counter to 30 years of legal precedent in California.
''What the court
said here was that if a hierarchical church wants to
take control of local church property, all it has to do is
pass a rule,'' he said.
The parishes will
decide soon whether to appeal to the California supreme
court. (AP)
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