After successful negotiations, St. John’s Anglican Church, in Petaluma, California, entered into a peaceful settlement with mutual releases with the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, The Episcopal Church and St. John’s Episcopal Church, Petaluma on May 14, 2009. St. John’s general counsel Lu T. Nguyen made the following comments about how the parish reached the decision to settle at this time: “While St. John’s is fully supportive of the position of St. James’ Anglican Church in Newport Beach, California and their appeal to the United States Supreme Court regarding certain aspects of the California Supreme Court decision in Episcopal Church Cases; and while recognizing their right to further defend themselves; the leadership of St. John’s reached the conviction that continued litigation over the property was not in the best interest of the financial and spiritual health of the congregation. Guided in part by the biblical admonition of 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, they believed the Lord was calling them to settle and focus their ministry calling to their local community.”
In reflecting on all that has transpired since leaving the Episcopal Church the Rev. David Miller,
rector of the parish, wrote the following:
“This press release finds the St. John’s church family preparing to enter a whole new stage of our
life together. We stand ready to leave the familiar and historic surroundings of the building at 5th
and C, a building that has been the church home to my family since our arrival in Petaluma in
1998; and a building that has been home to many of our members for much, much longer. Many
memories and emotions arise as we say goodbye.”
Fr. Miller continues, “However, as difficult as leaving is, two summary statements stand out as
defining of the spirit in which we move to our new quarters.
ï¶ First is the recognition that this is not about the property but about the Gospel and the
Word of God that we have been charged to uphold and defend. We did not leave the
Episcopal Church to keep the property; we left to keep the Faith.
ï¶ Second is the affirmation that the church is not the building; the church is the people.
We are blessed to have a spirit of unity as we move forward.”
St. John’s Anglican takes the occasion of this press release to say a heart felt thank you to the
many people of Petaluma who have prayed for and encouraged us in so many amazing ways
throughout this process.
St. John’s Anglican Church is pleased to announce that beginning Sunday, July 5, 2009, we will
be holding Sunday services at 8:30am and 10:30am at the Petaluma Community Center at
Lucchesi Park. We welcome any from the community who do not now have a church home or
would like to support us on this occasion, to come and worship with us.
New worship location:
St. John’s Anglican Church
Meeting at: Petaluma Community Center (Lucchesi Park)
320 N. McDowell Blvd.
Petaluma, CA 94954
(707) 283-1111
Service times: 8:30 a.m. (traditional) and 10:30 a.m. (contemporary)
Administrative office and mailing address: 55 Maria Dr., Ste. 837, Petaluma, CA 94954
Congratulations to the Vestry and congregation St John’s, Petaluma, and Fr Miller, for a truly Biblical witness. I’m looking forward to reading something from their former diocese on this development.
I’m not sure I follow this. St. John’s negotiated with the Diocese and reached a settlement. They are moving to a new location, so the settlement obviously didn’t involve St. John’s paying a portion of the property value to the diocese in order to keep their property. Did the diocese then pay a portion of the value of the property to St. John’s and in turn the diocese keeps the property? What did St. John’s get as part of the settlement?
Maybe cash they have in the bank?
What did St. John’s get as part of the settlement?
The right not to be sued and their integrity.
They are liberated from the moral and ethical discomfort of attempting to take a church from those Episcopalians who did not deem it appropriate to depart the Church. They gain an exciting and spiritually enriching opportunity to build a new church (physical and spiritual) on orthodox principles widely shared by their members. The latter opportunity is priceless and will fortify their relationship to Christ. This is the only correct disposition of these property issues and is a win for Christians on all sides of the debate. It is unfortunate that this is not the starting point of decisions to leave the church. In this case, it came only after a period of wasteful dispute. But it is a joyous thing for all, however late in coming.
So they just decided to leave their building and property behind and allow the diocese to take it over. I don’t understand why a negotiation was needed to do that. Don’t get me wrong – its a fine and noble thing to do, to take the high route especially when TEC is clearly in the wrong on these disputes. Its just that word “settlement”, I do not think it means what they think it means.
Based on what I recall from a newspaper article in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the negotiation was related to an agreement with the Diocese about the rector’s house.
Under CA law at the time of separation, the conggregation was entitled to keep the facility. The CA Supreme Court changed the law in its January decision (now being appealed to the USC, above.)
Kevin S
Put simply, they are trying to save face. That’s why it is a negotiation and settlement.