From Chicago TV 2-
A court has been asked to decide who owns the property of a Nashville church that broke away from the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee.
The diocese filed a lawsuit last week over the future of St. Andrew's Parish and its property in west Nashville, the Tennessean newspaper reports. The dispute has been brewing without a resolution for three years, before the diocese filed suit Friday to reclaim the church's property, according to the newspaper.
"Parishes don't have the option to leave the diocese," Bishop John Bauerschmidt told The Tennessean. "People can do whatever they want. But a parish doesn't have that option."
At issue is the St. Andrew's congregation's decision to leave the Episcopal Church and join a breakaway Anglican diocese based in Quincy, Ill. The Rev. James Guill, the rector at St. Andrew's, declined to comment on the dispute but said in e-mails to the newspaper that his congregation left the Episcopal Church in 2006.
Blakely Matthews, the church's attorney, wrote in a letter to the newspaper, "St. Andrew's left the Diocese of Tennessee in 2006, and established a relationship with the Diocese of Quincy."
The St. Andrew's congregation contends the deed to church property belongs to them.
According to the lawsuit, St. Andrew's parish leaders bought the church property from the diocese for $10 back in 1966. But church leaders agreed to abide by the diocese's rules on property ownership, according to the lawsuit.
Bauerschmidt said St. Andrew's is still an Episcopal church, and the property belongs to the diocese.
More here-
http://cbs2chicago.com/wireapnewsil/Lawsuit.filed.in.2.1284749.html
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