Lawyers and witnesses tangled yesterday over whether disaffected Episcopal congregations can be considered part of the 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion in the fourth day of a lawsuit at the Fairfax County courthouse.

Ian Douglas, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, a seminary in Cambridge, Mass., repeatedly testified that the Anglican Communion is a “family of churches,” and therefore, not divisible into factions.

“We”re not a global church,” he said. “It”d be hard to create a division because it presupposes an intact whole.”

Read it all.

Fairfax Circuit Judge Randy I. Bellows overruled all objections by lawyers representing the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church during morning testimony by bishops Martyn Minns and John Guernsey on Nov. 14. Paul Julienne, a member of the vestry at Truro Church, Fairfax, and the Diocese of Virginia’s reconciliation commission, also testified on the second day of what is expected to be a six-day trial.

The Diocese of Virginia brought suit after the majority at 11 Virginia congregations voted to leave The Episcopal Church. Most of the congregations subsequently affiliated with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. All Saints’, Woodbridge, the parish where Bishop Guernsey served as rector for more than 20 years, affiliated with the Anglican Church of Uganda. The diocese is seeking eviction of the breakaway Anglican congregations and court recognition that it lawfully holds title to the properties which are worth tens of millions of dollars.

Bishop Minns testified first, responding to questions for about 30 minutes for lawyers representing the breakaway congregations. He was then cross-examined by lawyers for the diocese and national church for about 20 minutes. Bishop Guernsey testified next for about 20 minutes with 10 minutes of cross examination.

Read it all.

Via email:

FAIRFAX, Va. (November 16, 2007) ”“ The litigation involving 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia will be entering a new phase as proceedings continue and are slated through Wednesday of next week. (Fairfax County Circuit Court, Multi-Circuit Property Litigation, Case No. CL-2007-0248724) The 11 churches finished presenting the bulk of their case yesterday and opening arguments were heard from The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia.

In January of this year, the Episcopal Church and Diocese abruptly broke off settlement negotiations and filed lawsuits against the 11 churches, their ministers and their vestries in an attempt to seize control of the Anglican churches’ properties. The decision of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese to reinterpret Scripture caused the 11 churches to sever their ties.

“We continue to be confident in our legal position that The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia cannot seize control of our churches through a claim that there is an ”˜implied trust’ in member congregations’ property. Virginia has a long history of deferring to local control of church property and the statute at issue says that the majority of the church is entitled to its property when a group of congregations divide from the denomination. The Episcopal Church admitted in its complaint that it does not hold title to any of these eleven churches and that the churches’ own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia and a part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). All 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of ADV.

“When The Episcopal Church and Diocese separated themselves from the historic Christian faith and broke their relationship with us as well as with some two-thirds of the constituent members of the worldwide Anglican Communion, our churches voted to dissociate from The Episcopal Church and Diocese in order to remain faithful to the historic teachings of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is clear that The Episcopal Church has brought this division upon itself,” Oakes continued.

“We have chosen to stay with the worldwide Anglican Communion and be steadfast in our faith. We are sorry The Episcopal Church has chosen to go its own way. Their choice to be a prodigal church does not give them the right to take our houses of worship with them.”

According to prior testimony, Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee was ready to accept buyouts from the 11 departing churches, several of which sat on historic pieces of property in Fairfax and Falls Church. That changed after he met with the new presiding bishop soon after her Nov. 4, 2006, installation.

“I told Bishop Lee I could not support negotiations for sale if the congregations intended to set up as other parts of the Anglican Communion,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said, referring to the 77 million-member worldwide body of which the Episcopal Church is a part.

What particularly angered her, she said, was the presence of the Nigerian-controlled Convocation of Anglicans in North America, then headquartered in Fairfax. An American bishop for CANA, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, had been consecrated that August.

CANA’s presence “violates the ancient principle of the church that two bishops do not have jurisdiction in the same area,” said the presiding bishop, whose face appeared on three screens positioned around the courtroom.

Under further questioning by attorneys for CANA, she said that had the property been sold to a Methodist or Baptist congregation, she would not have objected.

Read it all.

John Yates, among others, took the stand. Check it out.

Check it out.

After voting to leave, the 11 churches placed themselves within a Virginia-based branch of the Church of Nigeria — another wing in the Communion.

The Virginia diocese is arguing that there was no division, but rather that individuals unhappy with the Episcopal Church chose to leave. The diocese and the national church, which are both parties in the case, say that the Episcopal Church is hierarchical and therefore a “division” can only happen if there is a vote of its governing body.

But those on the breakaway side say it was the Episcopal Church that “left” by letting stand the 2003 installation of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. The national church “has willfully torn the fabric of the communion at the deepest level,” attorney Steffen N. Johnson said yesterday in his opening argument.

They called as witnesses two U.S. church historians to discuss how church disputes were settled at the time the law was passed.

Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Randy I. Bellows has said he will rule on this case next month. Regardless of how he rules, a second trial will be held on lawsuits brought by the diocese and national church against the breakaway churches. That action asks the Circuit Court to declare the diocese the rightful owner of all property. The suits also asked the court to force the breakaway congregations off the 11 properties, which they have occupied since the votes in December and January.

Bellows’s ruling in the first trial will help whichever side he rules for in the second, representatives on both sides said.

Read it all.

The congregations, including The Falls Church in Falls Church and Truro Church in Fairfax, argue that they are entitled to keep their land and houses of worship because the congregations overwhelmingly voted to disaffiliate with the Episcopal Church.

The diocese argues that church members who disagree theologically are permitted to leave the congregations as individuals, but have no right to take church property with them.

The disaffected congregations, now members of a breakaway group called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, or CANA, say the 1867 law is on their side. It states that a majority vote will determine whether a congregation can realign and retain its property when a church faces internal division.

Episcopal leaders argue that the state law does not apply in this case because there has been no formal division recognized by the Episcopal hierarchy.

Read it all.

Press release received via email:

FAIRFAX, Va. (November 13, 2007) ”“ The trial began today in which The Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia are attempting to seize property from 11 Anglican churches in Virginia. The Episcopal Church and Diocese abruptly broke off settlement negotiations and filed lawsuits against the churches, their ministers and their vestries. The decision of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese to reinterpret Scripture caused the 11 churches to sever their ties. The trial is being held in the Fairfax County Circuit Court. (Multi-Circuit Property Litigation, Case No. CL-2007-0248724)

“Although we remain confident in our legal position, we call upon the leaders of both The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia to embrace the recommendation of the Primates and withdraw their lawsuits. We did not choose this path. Even today, our churches remain open to negotiating a reasonable solution with The Episcopal Church and the Diocese. The legal proceedings have been an unfortunate distraction from all the good work our churches are doing to advance the mission of Christ,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia and a part of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). All 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of ADV.

“At the core of this case is that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia claim they have a ”˜trust’ interest in the congregations’ properties. But the Virginia courts have held time and again that denominations cannot claim an ”˜implied trust’ in member congregations’ property. The Episcopal Church even admitted in its complaint that it does not hold title to any of these eleven churches and that the churches’ own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations.

“The Episcopal Church has continually walked away from the scriptural foundation of the Anglican Communion. When we objected, they chose intimidation through lawsuits as their solution. Regardless of the actions of The Episcopal Church, ADV members will continue to hold steadfast in their faith, based on the authority of Scripture. We continue to pray for The Episcopal Church and its leaders.”

The soil of the Commonwealth of Virginia has been the scene of many momentous battles throughout the history of this country. In the American Revolution and Civil War, we as a people spilled our blood for freedom and the future of this country on the battlefields of war. In later times, Virginia was often at the forefront of the battles to end racial segregation in our schools and public places; I know, for I grew up in Virginia in those times. Today, Virginia is hosting another battle for freedom, as the “Virginia Eleven” go to court to begin a hearing against the Diocese of Virginia and TCGC over who shall retain ownership of such historic church properties such as Truro Church in Fairfax, and the Falls Church, both of which existed as Anglican congregations before those first Revolutionary battles were fought.

Read it all.

A judge in Fairfax County will hear evidence starting today in the church-property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and a group of congregations that left to affiliate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria.

The case involves 11 Northern Virginia congregations in which the majority of members voted to break with the Episcopal Church — the U.S.-based wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The votes occurred because of disagreements about what one of the group’s leaders called the Episcopal Church’s “blatant rejection of the authority of Scripture.” The consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003 brought the disagreements to a boiling point.

“That made us take a look at what was going on — and we were appalled,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, which formed to unite the breakaway congregations and others with similar beliefs. “What that told us was we couldn’t even agree on the ground rules for discussing the issue.”

The Anglican District of Virginia belongs to a larger organization called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which describes itself as a missionary branch of the Church of Nigeria.

After the votes, the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia filed suit to retain the property occupied by the departing congregations. Their stance is that “Episcopal Church property, while held by local trustees, is held in trust for the benefit of the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia and Episcopalians throughout the generations,” according to a statement from the diocese.

Read it all.

The largest property dispute in the history of the Episcopal Church, brought on by divisions over a homosexual bishop, is likely to turn on a Civil War-era Virginia law passed to govern churches splitting during disputes over slavery and secession.

Circuit Judge Randy Bellows will preside starting tomorrow at the Fairfax County Courthouse over a case brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the national Episcopal Church against 11 churches seeking to leave the denomination along with millions of dollars of property.

The 11 churches voted in December and January to leave the denomination and join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) under the Anglican Church of Nigeria, citing disputes over biblical authority and the 2003 election of the openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

The case is informally referred to as “57-9” in many documents because the coming hearing is based on Virginia Code Section 57-9. This says when a diocese or a denomination experiences a “division,” members of a congregation may determine by majority vote which side of the division to join, along with their property.

“This case is literally historic, because it’s based on a statute enacted by the Virginia legislature during the Civil War,” said Mary McReynolds, one of 24 lawyers involved on CANA’s side of the dispute. “The Virginia division statute is unusual, and my understanding is there are not many situations in the country that allow this.”

Read it all.

Now, almost one year after having left The Episcopal Church (TEC), we look back at our experience and some frequently asked questions regarding our departure.

You really need to take the time to read it all.

OOPS! The Episcopal congregations voted and then – following the Diocese of Virginia’s Protocol for Departing Churches – filed that vote in their local court house. WE DID NOT, repeat, did not seek the court’s declaration. We thought we were following the Diocese of Virginia’s Protocol and that we were entering into property negotiations by joining Bishop Lee’s official Diocese of Virginia Property Committee (the Diocese fails to mention that part – or the Standstill Agreement that the Diocese entered into with the Virginia Churches as we prepared for the next phase in the Protocol). The property negotiations had all ready been modeled for us by the property negotiations between the Diocese of Virginia and All Saints, Dale City. This all came to a sudden halt in January 2007 following a meeting of the Diocese of Virginia’s Standing Committee, Executive Board, and Bishop Lee with the Presiding Bishop’s Chancellor, David Booth Beers. Within days of that meeting, the standstill agreement was abruptly cancelled, lawsuits against the 200 lay volunteers and their clergy were filed by the Diocese and then another set by 815, the clergy were inhibited (even the ones who were remaining Episcopalian), and health benefits for clergy and staff were cut off, including COBRA benefits that cost the Diocese nothing but their honor. One thinks that David Booth Beers could not have the Diocese of Virginia declaring the facts that division had indeed occurred (as the Protocol stipulated) or their whole House of Cards would tumble.

Read it all.

Watch it all.

(Church of Uganda News)

A Statement by the Most Rev. Henry Luke Orombi, Archbishop of the Church of Uganda

My first visit to churches and clergy in the Episcopal Church (TEC) in Northern Virginia was in 1996, and I have been back many times since then. In the intervening eleven years it has become plain to see that there is a clear division in the Episcopal Church. The 2003 decision of TEC to defy Biblical authority, including the consecration as Bishop of a divorced man living in a same-sex relationship, “tore the fabric of the Anglican Communion at its deepest level.”

TEC’s decision separated itself from historic Anglicanism as well as from the vast majority of Christians worldwide. Accordingly, what has become evident is that the theology that could lead church leaders to make such a schismatic decision further separates TEC from mainstream Anglicanism in particular and global Christianity in general.

As early as 2004 the Church of Uganda responded to the first appeal from Biblically faithful TEC congregations in America to receive them as members of the Church of Uganda. There are now thirty-three congregations in the United States that are part of the Church of Uganda, and many more that are part of the Anglican Church of Kenya, the Province of the Southern Cone, the Episcopal Church of Rwanda’s Anglican Mission in the Americas, and the Church of Nigeria’s Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

There is a desperate need to provide emergency pastoral care for Biblically faithful orthodox Anglicans in America. The March 2007 rejection by TEC’s House of Bishops to the Pastoral Scheme presented to them unanimously by the Primates of the Anglican Communion and the subsequent rejection by TEC’s Executive Council only provide further evidence of this desperate need to care for, support, and encourage orthodox Anglicans and Episcopalians in America. That’s why there was such a great outpouring of international support for the recent consecrations of Americans as Bishops from the Anglican Churches of Kenya and Uganda.

I have just met with leaders of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). I have great respect and admiration for them as I see them remaining steadfast in their faith. The ADV embraces several Global South ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and represents the renewal of Anglicanism in America whose unity is based in the Word of God and demonstrated through its Bishops who work together cooperatively and collaboratively for increased mission in America.

Read it all.

Update: ENS has a pice here also.

[The Rev. Clancy] Nixon of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Ashburn echoed Oakes. “It’s a little bit like saying, ‘You can’t quit; I’m firing you.’ I quit a year and a half ago,” Nixon said. “The only thing this does is that it says I can’t have the same benefits that other priests do or other health care and pension benefits.

“He has the power to do that and that bothers me, yeah. I wish he hadn’t felt it necessary to do that. We were partners in ministry for many, many years, and I don’t see the need for him to deprive me of assets. What’s up with that?”

Nixon said Ashey of South Riding was not on the list because he was the first priest to leave.

“Lee dealt with him under a different canon. That one deprived him of his orders in one step. Lee received such poor press for that, he decided to go another route with the rest of us,” Nixon said.

“I wish they would stop suing my friends,” he added. “It’s ridiculous. We had a long process worked out over years and at the last minute the bishop pulled the plug.”

Read it all.

BabyBlue has a new letter from the diocese of Virginia posted on her blog. (It is not yet on the diocese’s website.)

To the Clergy and Lay Leaders of The Diocese of Virginia
August 8, 2007

Dear Friends:

Many of you have written, called and sent e-mails of support in recent months. I am grateful for all that you do in support of the mission of the Church to be the hands and feet of Christ at work in the world. Our aim is to help preserve the integrity of the Church so that you can continue to do that as Episcopalians in The Diocese of Virginia and to make sure that future generations will be able to say “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You.”

Clearly The Episcopal Church faces challenges as our church is beset by groups and individuals determined to hijack the legacy of our ancestors and make off with the inheritance we are honor bound to protect, preserve and pass on to future generations. We face opposition from groups that are not only leaving The Episcopal Church but are now also steering a new course away from the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is very telling that Dr. Ephraim Radner, one of the founders of the Anglican Communion Network, one of the realignment groups, has resigned and distanced himself from the mission of that group.

Closer to home, this is an important week in The Diocese of Virginia’s defense of its heritage and stewardship of its future. On Friday, August 10, The Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church will appear in Fairfax Circuit Court to defend our claim to Episcopal Church property against non-Episcopal groups that are trying to appropriate our churches for their own uses. This Friday, those groups will press technical and procedural claims that the Diocese and the Church have failed to state a case. In other words, they will try to have our case dismissed. Naturally, we oppose their actions. Later, in November, the court will hear arguments on the lawsuits, styled as petitions, filed by the Nigerian congregations that started this dispute. The Diocese and The Episcopal Church are named as defendants in that action.

The full text is here.

This elf can’t resist pointing out, that as one of BabyBlue’s commenters notes, the Diocese of VA leadership seems to be following the script of the “Revisionist Dictionary” by one of our favorite T19 commenters, “Irenaeus,” which Stand Firm has been posting in sections this week. Here are Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Irenaeus’ definition of “hijack”:

HIJACK: What the Orthodox want to do to the Episcopal Church. What the Orthodox assert that Progressives have done to the Episcopal Church.

Indeed.

Note: this is also posted at the Episcopal cafe.

“I’m saddened by Bishop Lee’s unnecessary action,” said Rick Wright, rector of The Falls Church in the town of the same name. “It demonstrates not only the division in the diocese between us and them, but between the Episcopal Church and Anglican community.”

Jim Oakes, vice president of ADV, echoed Wright’s comments, saying it seemed the diocese was following a “scorched-earth policy.”

Diocesan spokesman Patrick Getlein said the move was merely procedural, as the churches’ decision to leave the Episcopal Church set in motion a six-month process. At the end of this process, if the clergy in question have not retracted their decision to leave the church, they are removed from ordained minister status.

“They were priests of the Episcopal Church,” Getlein said. To align with something other than the Episcopal Church would mean they are no longer priests of that denomination, he added.

Read the whole article.

FAIRFAX, Va. (August 2, 2007) ”“ The churches of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), an association of Anglican congregations in Virginia, responded to the public announcement made today by the current Episcopal Bishop of Virginia to depose the approximately twenty clergy who have transferred their canonical residency to other branches of the Anglican Communion.

“We are sorry that Bishop Lee would seek to make such a public announcement when the clergy are no longer under his jurisdiction. The clergy he seeks to depose include a bishop-elect in the Province of Uganda, as well as a number of other ordained men and women who have faithfully carried out their pastoral duties as priests in the Church,” said ADV Vice Chairman Jim Oakes.

“This announcement from the Diocese of Virginia is like an employer trying to fire someone who has already quit. Our clergy have remained steadfast in their faith, and have fully embarked on their journey with the worldwide Anglican Communion by joining ADV and the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. We should remember the unanimous message that the Archbishops of the worldwide Anglican Communion made at their February meeting in Tanzania clearly expressing that it is the Episcopal Church that is out of step not only with us, but with the majority of Anglicans around the globe,” Mr. Oakes said.

After nearly a year of conversation with the bishop and his representatives in the Diocese of Virginia, the Bishop of Virginia endorsed the Diocese of Virginia Protocol for Departing Churches, providing a pastoral and charitable way for congregations to vote their conscience and remain Anglican, including the clergy.

“We were shocked when the bishop suddenly cut off negotiations following the vote and inhibited our clergy. But we must remember that he does not have the authority to depose clergy that are no longer under his jurisdiction. In spite of these continued acts of intimidation, ADV churches continue to move forward serving Christ by proclaiming His gospel, supporting and strengthening families, and serving communities at home and abroad,” Mr. Oakes said.

ADV members are in full communion with constituent members of the Anglican Communion through its affiliation with CANA, a missionary branch of the Church of Nigeria. ADV members are a part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, a community of 77 million people. ADV is dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission to make disciples while actively serving in three main capacities: International Ministries, Evangelism, and Strengthening Families and Community. ADV is currently comprised of 19 member congregations, 15 of which are under the ecclesiastical authority of the Bishop of CANA, The Right Reverend Martyn Minns, and four of which are ecclesiastical members under direct authority of other Anglican Archbishops, strongly supported by ADV members.

Update: An ENS article on the matter is here.

On Friday The 13th, Bishop Peter James Lee sent the following letter out to twenty one clergy whose congregations, following the Diocese of Virginia Protocol, voted to separate from the Episcopal Church, and whom he inhibited following his sudden cancellation of his own Property Committee as well as the stand-still agreement – all designed to negotiate amicably.

Notice that Bishop Lee introduces a new phrase, a new organization, in his Friday the 13th Letter. It’s called The Communion of The Episcopal Church (as opposed to the Anglican Communion). Since the inception of the Episcopal Church, when churches won recognition from the Archbishop of Canterbury himself and then went to form dioceses, the word “communion” has meant the Anglican Communion.

Church of the Apostles, Fairfax, was able to call a New Zealand priest to be their rector because he was an Anglican priest. Bishop Lee is “in communion” with the Anglican bishops in New Zealand and so the clerical orders are recognized. That is what “communion” means. It means that all these clergy and bishops have orders that are valid to celebrate the Eucharist….

Read it all.

From a Virginia paper, the Stafford County Sun:

FAIRFAX – Despite the major split in the Episcopal Church over the ordination of gay ministers, a spokesman for the breakaway Anglican segment insists they must focus, not on the ongoing legal battles, but through continuing Christian service.

According to Jim Oakes, vice-chair of the Anglican District of Virginia, “?our churches will remain as committed to fulfilling the Great Commission through service as they are to holding steadfast to orthodox Anglicanism and honoring the historic teachings of the church.”

The Anglican District of Virginia is planning approximately 30 trips with 100 to 200 Virginian missionaries in 2007. Its focus is aiding people’s practical needs. Each trip will last one to two weeks. One church may sponsor the trip while members from other congregations can join it.

Fairfax and Falls Church missionaries have been making trips to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

“There are tens of thousands still homeless down there and we need to help them,” said Oakes, a member of Truro Church – an Anglican church in Fairfax.

This summer, Truro is again sending its team to work in Anglican Rev. Jerry Kramer’s flooded city. The Anglican Church is also sending teams to Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya in East Africa to provide help with schooling and provide educational services. Locations are chosen based upon the church’s historical tie with the region.

“We look for relationships and existent structures with which we can work versus just blunder in and about in these places,” Oakes said.

Oakes has personally been on eight African mission trips. He has never felt danger.

“Our hosts are looking out for our welfare and will never let us go into dangerous places,” he said.

In Kenya, the church’s “Five Talents Missionary” will set up small micro-businesses. Africans will be lent $100 in start-up money to buy tools, for instance. The goal of the mission is to teach basic business skills.

The Lakota Sioux in South Dakota are also being helped.

“They are very needy,” said Oakes. “We will provide food, training, coats, encouragement and Bibles. In South Dakota it gets very cold during the winter months.”

In Ohio, mission teams will be building houses, in undisclosed locations, for battered women.

Although the mission trips are moving forward, the church’s ongoing legal battle is still an issue.

The rest is here.

“It’s just harassment of defendants, that’s all it is,” Jim Oakes, vice chair of the Anglican District of Virginia, the umbrella group for the churches, said of the most recent motion. “It’s frankly intimidating to soccer moms and people who aren’t used to encountering our legal system.”

Patrick Getlein, a spokesman for the diocese, calls the motion to name the congregates “a procedural matter.” When the lawsuit was first filed, the names of some of the vestry members were unknown. Hence, the diocese left them as “John Doe” and “Jane Roe.”

Read it all.

———
UPDATE:
The official response of the Anglican Diocese of Virginia may be found here.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Virginia has released a “response” regarding the proposed Anglican Covenant – and it’s a doozy. Indeed, it is illuminating. BabyBlue posts her commentary interspersed with the text. Read it all.

Eleven Virginia churches being sued by the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia for leaving the denomination with their property last year have set a goal of raising a combined $3 million to $5 million for their pooled legal expenses.

But an informal poll by The Washington Times revealed that more than half of these churches can’t afford to give funds or have made no plans to do so.

United against them is their former denomination, whose New York headquarters alone claims $300 million in assets.

The two largest parishes, Truro Church in Fairfax and the Falls Church in Falls Church, plan to provide at least $1 million each. So far, Truro has raised $900,000. But estimated contributions from the other nine churches are less than $200,000.

An official for the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV), a confederation formed by the 11 churches, says the money will be raised somehow.

“From our perspective, the Episcopal Church has limitless resources,” said Jim Oakes, ADV vice president. “We don’t, but we have enough for this situation. They are throwing everything they can at us, but we are in a very solid position legally. I think they know that. But they want to make this such an unpleasant and terrorizing process so that others won’t try the same thing.”

Read it all.

Read it all.

“Welcome to the Party!” came the greeting from The Rev. Michael Pipkin as he appeared seemingly from nowhere out of the crowd. “It’s good to see you here. Thanks for coming.” The ”˜party’ is the regular Sunday gathering of the members of The Falls Church ”“ Episcopal, a remnant of former members of the several-hundred-member break-away church now affiliated with CANA, who have placed themselves under the authority of Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria. This smaller group is made up of the approximately 10% from the original church who voted to remain in the Episcopal Church plus newcomers and occasional visitors who come for a Sunday or two to give visible support to the gathered church. They are meeting in the loft at the Falls Church Presbyterian, generously supported by that congregation and their pastor, The Rev. Dr. Thomas Schmid, who says, “We are so happy to have them here with us.”

The service was a celebration of the Eucharist with special prayers for Pentecost, the day remembered for the occasion of the followers of Jesus being empowered by the Holy Spirit 50 days after Jesus’ Resurrection. In his sermon, The Rev. Pipkin explained how like so many, this holy day was taken from a Jewish festival commanded by God through Moses ”“ in this case, the Festival of Weeks. The Jewish tradition is one where, at the beginning of the harvest, the ”˜first fruits’ are given as a thank offering, waved by the high priest before God. In other words, The Rev. Pipkin said, the offering of thanks is made ”˜not knowing what the rest of the growing season will be like.’ He suggested that making such an offering in our day would be akin to paying taxes on January 1st of the year in advance of securing our income for that year ”“ a practice that would probably be fraught with anxiety and fear. But, he reminded the congregation as he had been told in his youth, “anxiety and fear are not of God.” Instead, he suggested, just like in the Pentecost story in the Gospel reading from John appointed for this day, Jesus approaches us saying “Peace be with you”¦in all our anxiety about what will happen next, of not knowing what the next steps will be, God tells us to not fear.”

Read it all.

Read it all.

The Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) is facing the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia in the Fairfax Country Circuit Court. The first hearing was on Monday, May 21 and involves a property dispute among 11 churches and the Diocese of Virginia.

The case is rooted in the decision of the Episcopal Church and The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to separate from the historic Christian faith. ADV churches chose to hold steadfast to historic faith and to Scripture. Virginia Bishop Peter Lee appointed a Reconciliation Commission whose charge was to find a means of reconciliation of the break caused by The Episcopal Church.

“I would say that we preceded ”“ we being both Truro Church and all the churches that voted to sever our ties with the Episcopal church ”“ did everything we did as much out in the open as we knew how to do it and worked with the Diocese of Virginia over a period of about three years or more acknowledging that there were deep divisions, acknowledging that those divisions might force some of us to have to sever our ties with the Episcopal Church in order to survive as viable congregations,” said ADV Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors Jim Oakes in an exclusive interview.

“We had to sever our ties with the Episcopal Church for our own survival as a worshiping congregation,” said Oakes

Read it all.