A California Supreme Court decision this week that blocked three breakaway Episcopal Church parishes from holding onto their church buildings and property marks the latest in a string of legal victories for the national church and casts doubt on the efforts of other parishes to keep church grounds as they secede from the Episcopal Church over what they see as its liberal drift on matters like the ordination of gay clergy.
The Episcopal Church, with 2.1 million members, hopes the California ruling also sets a precedent for the property rights of the national denomination as several whole dioceses that have left the church attempt to keep their buildings and property. The ruling's implications for legal fights at the diocesan level are less clear.
Read the rest of the article. It's fair and accurate with one caveat:
Until now, the Episcopal Church has served as the sole North American province of the Anglican Communion, the world's third-largest Christian body, which is led by the archbishop of Canterbury.
Not quite.
UPDATE: I regret the exclusion of the Anglican Church of Mexico in my original post.
I thought Mexico was also a North American province?
ReplyDeleteNote, as regards future rulings, that the schismatic diocese of San Joaquin is also within the jurisdiction of this court.
ReplyDeleteErp, you are correct. My mistake. I corrected the post. Another sin of my US egocentricity.
ReplyDeleteLapin, right. I expect that San Joaquin doesn't have a chance.
San Joaquin's situation is a little different because it involves a dispute between a [purported] diocese and TEC, while in the case before the Calif. Supreme Court, the dispute was between TEC and the Diocese of L.A. on one side and a parish on the other.
ReplyDeleteAll the same, if I were a betting man, my money would be on TEC (but I would still be mindful of my late father's advice never to bet more than $2.00 on a horse even if it's the only one in the race).
Paul, your father's advice is good. The few times I went to the races, I never put more than $2.00 on a horse. Once, I won a tidy sum with my $2.00.
ReplyDeleteSJ will depend on whether the hierarchical principle goes right to the top -- the Episcopal Church. I think it is clear that it does, in spite of no reference to dioceses splitting off from TEC. Silence might imply consent, except that the US Constitution has the same silence in reference to the states. I'll say more at my blog...
ReplyDeleteTobias, I await your further words on SJ.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that the people who use the term "North America" in these communications are using it the way Canadians do. "North America" to a Canadian is a cultural and linguistic term for Canada and the U.S. Mexico would then be considered part of Latin America.
ReplyDeleteSo using it culturally this statement would still be correct:
There's the province of the Anglican Church of Canada, and, as of now, the Episcopal Church and the ACC are the still the only two provinces in North America which are part of the Anglican Communion.
Dan, some folks in Mexico get offended when they're excluded from North America, so I thought it would be best to include them.
ReplyDelete