From South Carolina-Bishop Charles vonRosenberg of the Episcopal parishes staying with the national church in eastern South Carolina asked a federal judge Thursday to immediately block the bishop of churches that have left from using the names and seal of the Diocese of South Carolina.
The motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court is the latest legal salvo in a schism among Episcopal churches in the eastern part of the state.
Attorneys for Bishop Charles vonRosenberg want U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck to issue the injunction against Mark Lawrence. vonRosenberg sued Tuesday alleging Lawrence's continued use of the names and seal of the diocese are federal trademark infringement.
Lawrence is the bishop of the diocese that broke away from the church last year in disputes over ordaining gays and other issues. When the diocese left, it had 70 congregations with about 29,000 parishioners. But 19 parishes and six worship groups are remaining in the national church and they elected vonRosenberg bishop at their own convention earlier this year.
There's a second suit in state court in which Lawrence was granted a temporary injunction giving him the right to use the name "Diocese of South Carolina" and the seal. That suit asks a state judge declare Lawrence's diocese has the right to the names and the seal and to a half billion dollars in church property controlled by parishes that left.
Read more here:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/07/3899585/preliminary-injunction-sought.html#storylink=cpy
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