SC judge rules breakaway Diocese in Episcopal split can keep properties

From South Carolina-

A South Carolina circuit judge ruled Friday congregations that broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2012 can keep their properties, a decision likely to setup another legal skirmish in the multi-year dispute. 

First Circuit Judge Edgar W. Dickson granted the motion by the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina asking for clarification on a 2017 ruling involving the schism between the Diocese and the defendants, The Episcopal Church and The Episcopal Church in South Carolina. 

The ruling, which involves 36 properties from the Grand Strand to the Lowcountry and valued at $500 million, orders the plaintiff parishes be “affirmed as the title owners in fee simple absolute of their respective parish real properties.”

More here-

https://www.postandcourier.com/news/sc-judge-rules-breakaway-diocese-in-episcopal-split-can-keep-properties/article_9561ccec-b486-11ea-ba66-4fe6694f887c.html

South Carolina judge issues ruling contrary to state Supreme Court decision in church property case

From ENS-

South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson, tasked in November 2017 by the South Carolina Supreme Court with a remittitur to enforce the final judgment of the Supreme Court, which ruled in August 2017 that the diocesan property and 29 parishes should be returned to the parties affiliated with The Episcopal Church, issued an order on June 19 that seems to be contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision.

In his order, he ruled that the properties instead belong to each congregation, using the application of the neutral principles of law. His order indicates that the historic Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina has no interest in the properties of the breakaway congregations that left the historic diocese and The Episcopal Church.

While the August 2017 final judgement of the South Carolina Supreme Court was based on a finding that these specific diocesan properties had acceded to the 1979 Dennis Canon, Dickson found no explicit accession existed. As noted in the order, the 1979 Dennis Canon states the following:

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/06/19/south-carolina-judge-issues-ruling-contrary-to-state-supreme-court-decision-in-church-propertycase/

Breakaway Anglican group that left Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth wins property fight

From RNS-

The Texas Supreme Court awarded a Fort Worth breakaway group affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America the right to $100 million in church property.

The ownership of the property has been in dispute since the ACNA-affiliate group broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2008.

The ruling on Friday (May 22) is the latest over properties held by breakaway congregations and dioceses that the Episcopal Church has been fighting in court for decades.

The Texas ruling may be the first time that a breakaway diocese has prevailed.

Ever since the Episcopal Church ordained Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop in 2003, scores of congregations and five dioceses withdrew from the church over doctrinal differences. Many joined ACNA, formed in 2008.

That was the case in Fort Worth, too, where a majority of clergy and lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth voted to leave. Both groups continue to call themselves the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

More here-

https://religionnews.com/2020/05/26/breakaway-anglican-group-that-left-episcopal-diocese-of-fort-worth-wins-property-fight/ 

and here-

https://www.christianpost.com/news/texas-supreme-court-rules-against-episcopal-church-100m-in-properties-belong-to-breakaway-diocese.html

exas Supreme Court rules against Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in property dispute

From ENS-

On May 22, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a ruling against the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and in favor of a breakaway group now affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America in a dispute over which group legally controls the diocese’s property.

The ruling reversed a 2018 appeals court decision that established The Episcopal Church’s diocese, led by Bishop Scott Mayer, as the rightful controller of the Diocese of Fort Worth. In 2008, a majority of clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of Fort Worth voted to leave The Episcopal Church and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone over doctrinal differences on topics like same-sex marriage and the ordination of women. Now there are two entities calling themselves the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth: the original diocese associated with The Episcopal Church and the breakaway group that is now part of the Anglican Church in North America.
 
The Supreme Court decision puts the ACNA-affiliated group in control of the diocese’s $100 million worth of property.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2020/05/22/texas-supreme-court-rules-against-episcopal-diocese-of-fort-worth-in-property-dispute/

Should the United Methodist Church Split over Same-Sex Marriage?

From Anxious Bench-

I am not a Methodist—well, not anymore. I grew up in the United Methodist Church (UMC), but have been a member of various other denominations since my college years. So the current debates within the United Methodist Church are not my fight. But they do interest me, both because of my religious history and because I am a religious historian.

Most mainline American Protestant denominations have liberalized their stance on same-sex relationships in recent years. The Presbyterian Church, USA (PCUSA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the American Baptist Churches, USA (ABCUSA), and the Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA), among others, now preside over same-sex marriages and ordain ministers in same-sex relationships. The United Methodist Church, by contrast, retained its traditional stance barring both of those practices longer than other mainline denominations.

More here-

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2020/02/should-the-united-methodist-church-split-over-same-sex-marriage/

St. Andrew’s Church in New Kensington holds final service for its faithful

From Pittsburgh-

St. Andrew’s Church in New Kensington has sat empty for seven years. On Thursday, roughly 30 parishioners filled the pews one last time.

Together they prayed, received Communion, and listened as Episcopal Bishop Dorsey W.M. McConnell deconsecrated the 71-year-old building, which is in the process of being sold.
“This is a hard thing to do under any circumstances,” McConnell said.

The church, part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, has been without an active congregation for several years.

It was last used by a congregation of the Anglican Church in North America, which moved out of the building in 2013. The original St. Andrew’s congregation was among the 42 parishes that left the Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese in 2008 to join the Anglicans.

The diocese attempted to restart a parish at the church after the Anglican congregation left, but it was unsuccessful, the Rev. Canon Kimberly Karashin said. She said congregations that looked at the church told the diocese it was too big and would be too expensive to maintain.

More here-

https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/st-andrews-church-in-new-kensington-holds-final-service-for-its-faithful/

United Methodists talk more about potential split over same-sex marriage, gay clergy

From Pittsburgh-

As Methodists in Western Pennsylvania consider the future of their denomination, a group that has proposed an amicable split explained the proposal in more detail Monday.

Known as the “Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation,” the proposal allows for the formation of a new “traditionalist” Methodist denomination that would not sanction the performance of same-sex weddings or the ordination of openly gay clergy, and the continuation of a presumably smaller but more liberal United Methodist Church.

Questions having to do with human sexuality, LGBT persons and biblical authority have roiled the United Methodist Church for decades but, until now, have not led to formal divisions within the global Protestant denomination — the second-largest in the United States.

More here-

 https://triblive.com/local/regional/united-methodists-talk-more-about-potential-split-over-same-sex-marriage-gay-clergy/

United Methodist Church announces plan to split over same-sex marriage

From The Washington Post-

The United Methodist Church is expected to split into two denominations in an attempt to end a years-long, contentious fight over same-sex marriage, church leaders announced Friday. The historic schism would divide the nation’s third-largest religious denomination.

Leaders of the church said they had agreed to spin off a “traditionalist Methodist” denomination, which would continue to oppose same-sex marriage and to refuse ordination to LGBT clergy, while allowing the remaining portion of the United Methodist Church to permit same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy for the first time in its history.

The plan would need to be approved in May at the denomination’s worldwide conference.
The writers of the plan called the division “the best means to resolve our differences, allowing each part of the Church to remain true to its theological understanding, while recognizing the dignity, equality, integrity, and respect of every person.”

The United Methodist Church is the United States’s largest mainline Protestant denomination. The church has fought bitterly about LGBT inclusion for years, and leaders often feared the fight would lead to a schism.

More here-

 https://www.timestelegram.com/news/20200105/united-methodist-church-announces-plan-to-split-over-same-sex-marriage

United Methodist Church Announces Plan to Split Over Same-Sex Marriage

From The New York Times-

A group of leaders of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced on Friday a plan that would formally split the church, citing “fundamental differences” over same-sex marriage after years of division.

The plan would sunder a denomination with 13 million members globally — roughly half of them in the United States — and create at least one new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination that would continue to ban same-sex marriage as well as the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy. 

It seems likely that the majority of the denomination’s churches in the United States would remain in the existing United Methodist Church, which would become a more liberal-leaning institution as conservative congregations worldwide depart. 

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/us/methodist-split-gay-marriage.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR2-JiztVNR4ehwXL0fOCCXKAQuq59YdBRqRg1vh1MYD9vJP7FmbHy31Uqg 

and here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/03/united-methodist-church-is-expected-split-over-gay-marriage-disagreement-fracturing-nations-third-largest-denomination/?fbclid=IwAR0S4OCECj-VPz7hB5z8k0Ziwf_PcETnDr87V09Y0O6g-ZSlTDciv8cLq6A

Federal judge grants majority of Diocese of South Carolina’s motion to enforce injunction

From ENS-

U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Gergel issued an order and opinion on Dec. 18, granting in part the motion to enforce the injunction filed by The Diocese of South Carolina, also known as The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, on Nov. 11. In the order, the judge notes: “The Defendants [the disassociated diocese] here clearly violated the terms of the Court’s Order and Injunction.” Furthermore, Gergel’s order denied the motion to stay the injunction filed by the disassociated diocese.

In the petition on Nov. 11, the Diocese of South Carolina requested enforcement of the court’s order and opinion and permanent injunction issued on Sept. 19. The petition cited numerous examples that prove continued violations of the injunction by the disassociated diocese as it “hold(s) itself out to be the Historic Diocese in many respects.”

In yesterday’s ruling, Gergel ruled that “the Court finds that Defendants violated the Court’s Order and Injunction by continuing to use the terms ‘Founded in 1785,’ ‘14th Bishop,’ ‘XIV Bishop,’ and ‘229th Diocesan Convention.’” He further noted that the defendant’s use of these terms and phrases violate the order and injunction by “continuing to claim goodwill as a successor to the Historic Diocese when only TECSC [The Episcopal Church in South Carolina] has that right.” He, therefore, issued a permanent injunction prohibiting the disassociated diocese from using any and all of these terms.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/12/19/federal-judge-grants-majority-of-diocese-of-south-carolinas-motion-to-enforce-injunction/

Be careful who you call ‘Anglican’

From The Church Times-

THERE is a long history in common-law jurisprudence attached to the idea of “genericisation”: that tipping-point moment when a name one has applied to a specific type of something (usually a brand name) becomes the generic stand-in for all examples of that type. Think of Hoovering up something, or using a Kleenex

In the coming months, as the next Lambeth Conference approaches, “Anglican” is a word in peril of being genericised — and drained of whatever meaningful content it hopes to retain. The basic problem is simple and sharp: “Anglican” is a word without any police to guard it or boundaries to contain it. The result is that it is opportunistically used, loosely applied, and fiercely (and often falsely) claimed.

By now, it is at least clear what “Anglican” is not. It is not a word that describes unity of theological thought or interpretation. It does, perhaps, describe certain theological emphases, or paths of interpretation. It does not (at all) describe a common pattern of ecclesiastical governance or arrangements for polity. And, even in this moment of dreamy, Brexit-induced visions of British cultural superiority, it is not an accurate shorthand for describing one Church more accurately known as the Church of England.

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/8-november/comment/opinion/be-careful-who-you-call-anglican

Falls Church Episcopal’s Healing Rector Leaves After 7 Years of Growth

From Virginia-

The Rev. John Ohmer, who for seven years led the recovery of the congregation of the historic Falls Church Episcopal from its many years of exile, held his final service there last Sunday, departing for a new position in Asheville, North Carolina. Over 400 attended his last service and a reception held after.

When Ohmer came onto the scene at the church in September 2012, the property had just been reclaimed by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia from a more than six year occupation by defectors who’d voted to leave the denomination in December 2005, but then continued to occupy the property. They voted to leave in large part protesting the Episcopal denomination’s election of an openly-gay bishop in 2003.

During those years of occupation, whose claim to the property after years of litigation was denied by the Virginia Supreme Court and then went unheard by the U.S. Supreme Court, a small remnant of “continuing Episcopalians” persisted, first meeting in the living room of a lay member and then invited to worship in the fellowship hall of the Falls Church Presbyterian Church across the street.

More here-

https://fcnp.com/2019/10/31/f-c-episcopals-healing-rector-leaves-after-7-years-of-growth/

Fracture in Australia's Anglican church deepens as diocese ALLOWS gay marriages

From Australia-

Newcastle's Anglican diocese has voted to change church rules to allow ministers to bless same-sex marriages and prevent clergy in same-sex marriages from being punished by the church.

More than 200 clergy and lay people voted on the two bills at the diocese's synod on Saturday, the majority in their favour.

One would create a regulation allowing ministers to bless those married 'according to the Marriage Act' - and allow for the blessing of same-sex couples.

No minister would be forced to conduct such a service if it went against their conscience, the bill says.

The other would prevent a clergy member from being disciplined for blessing a same-sex marriage, or for being in a same-sex marriage themselves.

More here-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7618195/Fracture-Australias-Anglican-church-deepens-diocese-ALLOWS-sex-marriages.html

NZ gets two Anglican Churches. Maybe Australia will too

From New Zealand-

There is a great line that economics writers use to disparage each other: “They predicted ten of the last three recessions.”

Church splits are a bit similar. It would be easy to have predicted ten of the last three schisms.
For example, an imminent split in the Anglican Church of Australia has been written about for the last two decades – normally in the Sydney Morning Herald.

This is not to diminish the seriousness of the current situation facing Australia’s Anglican Church. The dispute over same-sex blessings that escalated after the Diocese (region) of Wangaratta authorised blessings of civil marriages of LGBT people and the Archbishop of Sydney Glenn Davies responded by asking those leaders who want to change doctrine to leave, was quite rightly described by Davies as a “crisis”.

More here-

https://www.eternitynews.com.au/australia/nz-gets-two-anglican-churches-maybe-australia-will-too/

Breakaway diocese in South Carolina loses legal battle to keep its name

From The Church Times-

A DIOCESE in South Carolina which broke away from the Episcopal Church in the United States after years of disagreements over issues including the ordination of openly gay clerics has lost a drawn-out legal battle to keep its name.

The breakaway diocese was known as the Diocese of South Carolina. It left the Episcopal Church in 2012 (News, 23 November 2012). The parties have since been entangled in a dispute over the right of the congregations of the breakaway diocese to retain their identity and property, including 29 parish churches valued at $500 million (News, 15 June 2018).

On 21 September, however, a district court in Charleston ruled in favour of the Episcopal Church and its diocese — the Episcopal Church in South Carolina — in a trademark case that compelled the breakaway diocese to change its name. The Judge, Richard M. Gergel, issued an injunction which prevented the breakaway diocese and its parishes from using the original seal and names of the diocese. These are: “Diocese of South Carolina”, “The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina”, and “The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina”.

More here-

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/4-october/news/world/breakaway-diocese-in-south-carolina-loses-legal-battle-to-keep-its-name

Rev. Ohmer, Rector of F.C. Episcopal Since 2012, Announces He’s Leaving

From Virginia-

The Rev. John Ohmer, who has served as the rector of the historic Falls Church Episcopal Church since 2012, issued a letter to his congregation today saying he will be leaving his post for a new assignment in Asheville, North Carolina, in November. Ohmer has overseen a considerable revival of the church following a contentious seven-year struggle to regain control of the church property from a group of defectors in the church who refused to relinquish it following their vote to defect in 2005.     

By 2012 the Diocese of Virginia had secured the site following a number of court rulings, including a final refusal of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear an appeal by the defectors, who had identified themselves as an arm of the Nigerian Anglican church. They defected on grounds of their opposition to the U.S. Episcopal Church’s election of an openly-gay bishop in 2003.  

More here-

https://fcnp.com/2019/09/26/rev-ohmer-rector-of-f-c-episcopal-since-2012-announces-hes-leaving/

Controversy in Cornwall town as vicar starts new church accused of extremism and homophobia

From England-

There are concerns in a Cornish town that a new church, which meets for the first time next week, is “extremist” and “homophobic”.

The Vicar of Fowey has resigned in order to start a new Anglican church in the town, under the auspices of an organisation which has been dubbed right wing.

The Rev Philip de Grey-Warter has resigned as Vicar of Fowey and Priest-in-Charge of Golant after 17 years to “plant” a new church community, Anchor, under the auspices of GAFCON, a controversial global movement of conservative Anglican clergy.

Mr de Grey-Warter decided to leave the Church of England when the House of Bishops allowed the baptism liturgy to be used for those who are transitioning gender.

More here-

https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/cornwall-news/controversy-cornwall-town-vicar-starts-3360310

Judge finds breakaway diocese infringed Episcopal TMs

From South Carolina-

A US judge has ordered a former South Carolina diocese of the Episcopal Church to change its name, after concluding the breakaway group was infringing the Episcopal Church’s trademark-protected diocesan shield.

On Thursday, September 19, District Judge Richard Gergel issued an injunction against the breakaway diocese, ordering the group not to use nine trademarks associated with the Episcopal Church and its The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, an affiliate of the national church.

The lawsuit, which was filed in March 2013, arose out of a schism in 2012, when then-bishop Mark Lawrence departed from the national church.

More here-

https://www.worldipreview.com/news/judge-finds-breakaway-diocese-infringed-episcopal-tms-18674

Judge: S.C. diocese has right to money for property upgrades

From South Carolina-

In a back-and-forth legal case, a state circuit court judge has ruled a state church district of about 50 congregations would still have the right to compensation for improvements it made to parishes through the years, even if it lost property ownership to a national church group.

Late Tuesday, Judge Edgar Dickson of South Carolina's First Judicial Circuit denied the motion of The Episcopal Church and The Episcopal Church of South Carolina to dismiss a Betterments Statute claim filed by a former breakaway group, the Diocese of South Carolina, according to a diocese news release.

And compensation for those improvements could be "substantial," according to a diocese official.
The diocese, or state church district, split from the national Episcopal Church in 2012 because of theological concerns and is now part of The Anglican Church in North America.

"The Betterments Statute makes this possible: If you improve it - thinking you owned it - and it turns out somebody else does, they have to in some fashion compensate you for those improvements," said Jim Lewis, Canon to the Bishop of the diocese on Wednesday.

More here-

https://theitem.com/stories/judge-sc-diocese-has-right-to-money-for-property-upgrades,332676

Judge orders all parties into mediation in South Carolina church property case

From ENS-

After a two-hour hearing at Calhoun County Courthouse in St. Matthews, SC, this morning, First Circuit Court Judge Edgar Dickson ordered all parties—The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) and The Episcopal Church, along with a group that broke away from the Church in 2012—to enter into mediation in the ongoing dispute over enforcing the South Carolina Supreme Court’s 2017 decision on diocesan and parish properties.

The hearing was initially in regard to a lawsuit filed against TECSC and The Episcopal Church by the breakaway group that has come to be known as the Betterments Act case. It was filed in November 2017 and cites the little-used Betterments Act statute to seek compensation from TECSC and The Episcopal Church for the cost of improvements made to the properties over the years. That suit followed a decision by the South Carolina Supreme Court on August 2, 2017 ruling that all diocesan property and the property of 29 parishes is held in trust for The Episcopal Church and TECSC.

During the hearing, attorneys for TECSC and The Episcopal Church argued the grounds for dismissal of the case, per their motion filed on December 15, 2017. During the course of the arguments, Judge Dickson asked several questions on issues surrounding ownership and trusteeship of the involved properties.

More here-

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/pressreleases/judge-orders-all-parties-into-mediation-in-south-carolina-church-property-case/