On April 17, lawyers for the diocese attended a hearing before Judge James in Pittsburgh, together with lawyers for Calvary Church, lawyers representing The Episcopal Church (TEC) diocese, and lawyers representing the leadership of the national Episcopal Church.
All parties, including the lawyers for the leadership of national Episcopal Church, agreed that there will be hearing based on the assumption that the diocese’s withdrawal from The Episcopal Church was valid. At that hearing, the court will address whether the October 2004 stipulation in the Calvary Church lawsuit was violated by a valid withdrawal of the diocese from The Episcopal Church. No date for the hearing has yet been set.
The issue of validity will be addressed at a later date. Lawyers for The Episcopal Church have announced that they will be filing separate litigation on this issue.
[i]All parties, including the lawyers for the leadership of national Episcopal Church, agreed that there will be hearing based on the assumption that the diocese’s withdrawal from The Episcopal Church was valid.[/i]
Well, that alone is a GIANT leap forward!
Not really. The first hearing will decide if the Stipulation of 2005 gives the TEC diocese all the assets, even if the withdrawal was valid. Should the judge rule in favor of the TEC diocese, then the TEC diocese gets the assets and will presumably let individual parishes leave according to the protocol set forth in the Stipulation. If the judge rules in favor of the realigned diocese… then the TEC diocese will challenge the validity of the withdrawal and that will entail more legal wrangling.
Meanwhile the TEC wll be spending $$ right and left for legal fees will put its hand out for more $ from congregations. I know of one Diocese in West Michigan that is asking for 10-20% increase in Parish giving in spite of the fact that parishes have suffered 10-40 % loss in people. It isn’t working. The same Diocese no longer has a Cathedral Church. It and most of the acreage about it (with the exception of the consecrated Cemetry) ceases to exist. (It was sold for an undetermined amount). I learned this second hand. Add to this that in one church the priest is only serving 2 1/2 days.