From Falls Church-The U.S. Supreme Court announced this Monday its denial of an appeal from the congregants who defected from the Falls Church Episcopal Church in 2006, letting stand Fairfax Circuit Court’s ruling that the property of the historic church remains in the possession of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.
Monday’s announcement finally exhausts the legal appeals of the ruling available to the defectors, ending eight years of contention which began with the defectors’ vote to leave the Episcopal Church in December 2006, to align with an Anglican bishop from Nigeria and to subsequently occupy the church property for over six years before before being mandated by the Fairfax court to vacate the site in 2012.
Central to the rift that led to the defection was the issue of homosexuality, specifically that the conservative rector at the church, Rev. John Yates, led the defection and subsequent occupation of the property that was ruled illegal, because of his opposition to the national Episcopal Church denomination’s election of an openly gay priest, the Rev. Gene Robinson, to standing as a bishop in 2003.
More here-
http://fcnp.com/2014/03/12/after-7-years-u-s-supreme-court-issues-final-word-the-f-c-belongs-to-diocese/
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