From Connecticut
Bishop Seabury Church has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that the church and all its property must be turned over to the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut.
The legal battle started after the Rev. Ronald S. Gauss in 2007 led his parish away from diocesean supervision over several disagreements, including the Episcopal Church's ordination in 2003 of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, and the election of a woman as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. in 2006.
A state Superior Court judge ruled in 2010 that the Connecticut diocese owns the 6.5-acre church site and its contents. The judge ordered Gauss and his parishioners to give up the property, but granted them a stay to continue to worship in the church as they appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court.
The state Supreme Court last year unanimously ruled against them and denied a request from the parish to reconsider. The parish was told to vacate the property.
The church filed the petition March 14, asking the high court to clarify conflicting rulings on state property and trust laws. "On one side of the split... at least five state supreme courts and one federal circuit hold that courts need to enforce trust provisions in denominational documents only if the provisions create a trust under, 'objective, well-established concepts of trust and property law' that are developed for use in all property disputes."
More here-
http://www.theday.com/article/20120323/NWS01/120329835/1018
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