From Connecticut-
A 135-year-old parish that broke away from the Episcopal Church after it consecrated its first openly gay bishop cannot keep its building and land, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday.
Justices rejected an appeal of a lower court ruling by the Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, which like dozens of parishes nationwide split from the national Episcopal Church after the 2003 appointment of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Bishop Seabury Church’s governing board voted in 2007 to join the more conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
Similar land disputes involving breakaway Episcopal parishes have been playing out across the country, with most courts ruling in favor of the national church and its dioceses. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a similar case involving a California church in 2009.
The Groton parish’s lawyer had argued that the Episcopal Church has no right to the property and the land deed is in the parish’s name. But the state diocese said church rules prohibit congregations from walking away with church properties, and those properties are held in trust for the denomination.
More here-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/conn-supreme-court-rules-parish-that-broke-from-episcopal-church-cant-keep-property/2011/09/30/gIQAxK0GAL_story.html
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