I am not familiar with all the arcane details of the legal dispute between The Episcopal “Church” and the seven Anglican CANA/ACNA parishes in Virginia. So I hesitate to get into legal commentary on this. I’m sure the Anglican Curmudgeon will dive into that in due time.
But I must say am appalled by yesterday’s ruling. I know at least Falls Church and Truro Church predate The Episcopal Church. And I seriously doubt they in any way have ever signed over their property to that organization.
My prayers are with those congregations. Their foundation is Christ, and they will long outlast Schori and her lawyers. But the loss of these properties cannot be an easy thing.
And what does the Episcopal “Church” gain? Properties they can hardly hope to use adequately with the bills that come with them. And some of the properties are difficult to sell due to historic graveyards and no telling what other use restrictions.
And that after TEC could have benefitted from generous settlements.
This lawsuit was almost pure vindictiveness. Anathemas are in order.
Read the opinion. Only The Falls Church pre-dates the Episcopal Church. The historical evidence on that point wasn't disputed. (You may be confusing Truro Church with the colonial era parish by that name. As the opinion states, the church began in the 1840s and adopted the Truro name in the 1930s.)
ReplyDeleteThis lawsuit, like others, is what inevitably happens when people don't compromise/settle. I think you can find some of that on both sides.
In what way were the parishes unwilling to settle? It is the Episcopal Church that walked away from a tentative settlement after Schori was enthroned.
ReplyDeletewannabe