California Ruling in Episcopal Church Dispute Deals Setback to Breakaway Parishes Nationwide

Archepiscopal folly

Hmm. Now the Scriptures on which the Church is founded strictly forbid taking fellow-Christians before the secular courts, which fact any believer is, I think, sure to notice on their first reading of the New Testament which is hardly a long or hard-to-read volume. A Christian leader, then should certainly know better than to sue a church for their properties. Do we need to examine how the words "Christian," and, "leader" apply here? One wonders.

As for the court, they seem to have overlooked the fact that the diocese is established as the basic unit of the Church. The province (in this case, the Episcopal Church in the USA) is a gathering of the dioceses for mutual comfort and support in ministry. So, legally, can the "plaintiff" be more than an interested observer?

Applying the same logic to civil law, a woman could build a business but, if she leaves her cheating, abusive, husband, he gets all her assets on grounds that they had been in his (her married) name!

Episcopal church is Gramscian Proxy

California obviously ruled on the site of the church to promote its own homosexual agenda. The Episcopal church is becoming the thorn in the side of American Religion, controlled now by onerous connections to judiciary and the new Obama Administration. The leadership of the church is becoming increasingly entangled in the leftist agenda, particularly the issue of homosexuality, to chip away towards the holy grail: fundamentalism. The Episcopal church is increasingly the proxy of Gramscians whose ultimate goal is to destroy religion in the name of socialism.

The sole North American province?!?

North America goes from Canada to Panama and encompasses the islands of the Caribbean. There are 5 Anglican provinces and two extra-provincial dioceses in North America; the Anglican Church of Canada, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Mexico, Church in the Province of the West Indies, Anglican Church in the Central American Region, Anglican Church of Bermuda and the Episcopal Church of Cuba.

A Mexican Anglican

An Episcopal parish only comes into being through an Episcopal diocese, which only comes into being through the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. A parish cannot "leave the Episcopal diocese" under which it was created. The parish only exists as *part of* an Episcopal diocese. A diocese cannot "leave The Episcopal Church"--the diocese only exists as *part of" The Episcopal Church.

People can leave the parish, the diocese, or The Episcopal Church. No one is forced to stay. But those who leave are not "break away" Episcopalians, Episcopal parishes, or Episcopal dioceses. They are not "traditional Episcopalians" or "orthodox Episcopalians,", or "conservative Episcopalians." By their leaving, they are no longer any sort of Episcopalians at all, other than "former."

Churches don't like it

when their members stand up to them. The Episcopal Church has been shrinking for many years. They consistantly make choices that almost seem to be deliberately designed to anger their members. As a group the leadership seems totally unable to come to terms with people leaving. I left twenty years ago when people were still leaving a few at a time. Now they are loosing whole churches at a time. They seem not to understand that they can not win, even when they win in court, they loose. Ask the banks how profitable it is to hold empty real estate. People don't belong to the church the way they did during the inquisition.

Virginia Statute

The state statute in Virginia under which breakaway congregations have achieved court victories is not about “‘divided’ property” but divisions (i.e., splits) within a denomination. The statute was passed to keep Northern churches from claiming Southern real estate in the face of church divisions over slavery. The statute is widely viewed as unconstitutional and is likely to be struck down as such eventually. In any case, Virginia seems to be the last state where a dissident Episcopal congregation has any reasonable hope of leaving the church with its real estate. The California decision is a devastating blow to the dreams of empire harbored by “orthodox” detractors of The Episcopal Church.