From AP-A Southern California congregation that split with the Episcopalian church over the ordination of gay clergy and other issues must return its church property to the denomination's Los Angeles diocese, a judge has ruled.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim G. Dunning on Monday reaffirmed an earlier ruling, possibly ending a nine-year legal battle between the St. James congregation and the larger church, The Orange County Register reported Tuesday.
The ruling marks the latest in a string of decisions in California ordering breakaway congregations to return property to the six-county diocese after lengthy battles spurred by anger over the Episcopalian denomination's ordination of gay clergy.
In 2011, the state Supreme Court sent the Newport Beach case back to the lower court for trial, which was to have begun Monday.
"I pray this action will settle the fact that people can disagree but cannot take property that has been entrusted to the Episcopal Church for ministry," the Right Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the six-county diocese, said in a statement.
Read more here:
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/07/5401758/judge-property-belongs-to-episcopal.html#storylink=cpy
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