A COURT in Virginia has ruled that 11 congregations, which left the Episcopal Church to affiliate with with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA), can file their claim on property, under a statute of Virginian law triggered when there is a “division” of a church or religious society (News, 2 February 2007, 10 August 2007).
The court, presided over by Judge Randy Bellows, had to determine what constituted “division”. The ruling quoted figures suggesting that more than seven per cent of the churches in the diocese, 11 per cent of its baptised membership, and 18 per cent of its average Sunday attendance of 32,000 had left in the past two years.
In his conclusion, Judge Bellows said: “It blinks at reality to characterise the ongoing division within the diocese, ECUSA, and the Anglican Communion as anything but of the first magnitude . . . perhaps most importantly, [in] the creation of a level of distress among many church members so profound and wrenching as to lead them to cast votes in an attempt to disaffiliate from a church which has been their home and heritage throughout their lives, and often back for a generation.”
The court found the congregations to have affiliated with a religious body to which they viewed themselves as “attached” and “in communion” with, through their common affiliation as Anglicans in the Church of Nigeria. That made the case “entirely distinguishable from a situation in which, for example, a group of disillusioned Roman Catholics leave to join the Episcopal Church, or vice versa”.
The Bishop of Virginia, the Rt Revd Peter Lee, who has just returned from a visit to Sudan, said in a statement: “While the court decided it was appropriate for the CANA congregations to file their claims under the Virginia Division Statute, it recognised the importance of the constitutional questions surrounding that statute, and will consider our position at a hearing set for May. It is essential for us all to recognise that this was not a final decision, and the court did not award any property or assets.”
The diocese, which last year sued the congregations for the property, is asking the courts to affirm that it has control over all real and personal property associated with the Church. The property hearing will take place in October.
A statement from the Presiding Bishop’s office said: “We shall present to the court at the scheduled hearing in May our contention that if the statute means what the court has held, it plainly deprives the Episcopal Church and the diocese, as well as all hierarchical Churches, of their historic constitutional rights to structure their polity free from governmental interference, and thus violates the First Amendment.”
The 11 churches have declared themselves to be the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). The ADV’s chairman, Jim Oakes, said after the ruling: “We are pleased with this initial victory today. . . The Virginia Division Statute says that the majority of the church is entitled to its property when there is a division within the denomination. Our churches’ own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations.” |
back to News
previous story
|
next story 
back to top
