From the Wall Street Journal-
When the members of St. Luke's of the Mountains Church in La Crescenta, Calif., voted in 2006 to leave the Episcopal Church, they never meant they wanted to leave their church.
But last month, they got notice they were being evicted from the 80-year-old stone structure that had been their spiritual home.
The congregants lost a long legal fight for their building when a court ruled that the national Episcopal Church, which represents the world-wide Anglican Communion in the U.S., and the local diocese were the rightful owners of the property -- not the breakaway leaders.
"For many of us, leaving here will be one of the most difficult things we have ever done for God," Rev. Rob Holman said in his last sermon in the building before renting the Seventh Day Adventist Church nearby.
In the past few years, individual parishes and four dioceses in the U.S. have voted to split from the Episcopal Church, which had about two million members before the split. In June, some of these groups officially founded a rival province, the Anglican Church in North America, which includes some 742 parishes.
The schism reflects arguments over church doctrine, such as the ordination of women priests and the elevation of an openly gay bishop in 2003. Each side argues it best embodies the values and beliefs of the Anglican Communion. The breakaway groups say they are holding true to the Anglican understanding of theology, as the U.S. Episcopal Church moves to the left. The national body says its positions may change over time, but the tenets of the denomination guide those actions.
More here-
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125909715655362891.html
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