A breakaway parish that has fought a long-running legal battle to retain control of its seaside church is once again hoping to take its fight to the California Supreme Court.
St. James Anglican Church, a self-described “biblically orthodox” congregation that sought to distance itself from the national Episcopal Church due to disagreements over scriptural teachings and the ordination of a gay bishop, filed a petition to the California Supreme Court on Tuesday as part of an effort to be declared the owner of the church property.
How anyone can argue the justice has prevailed so far in this long standing matter is beyond me. All the church wants is a trial to present their case and even though it has been ordered to happen they still have not presented their evidence years later and have been told they lost. This now has morphed into a civil rights violation as well as a property dispute.
Intercessor
Amen. What a travesty.
I for one think its time for this Anglican parish to just walk away and take the moral high ground. If God was truly leading them away from the Episcopal Church, He will provide for them.
I would point out that St James Church has more than one billionaire in the congregation. If I were rector I’d try to buy out any interest the Diocese of Los Angeles might reasonably have in the property. If they wouldn’t go along, I’d keep Jon and his friends in court forever. If that didn’t work I’d build a bigger and better place right nearby by buying up a bunch of property and ensure absolute oblivion for any faux successor parish the Diocese of Los Angeles would try to start. In any case, no significant numbers of people will attend church in the current St James building if the Anglican congregation has their property taken from them under color of law and the successor body will inevitably be dissolved and the property sold.
Archer (#3),
I understand and can sympathize, but I also understand the desire not to let +Bruno the Brute get away with stealing the property from this lively, prominent parish. While #4 is right that they are blessed to have some very wealthy members in that large congregation and they could probably rebuild elsewhere if they had to, the fact is that land in that elite part of Orange County is extremely hard to come by (at any price).
St. James not only deserves the chance to make their case on the main issues at stake (rather than just the preliminary motions that have been argued so far), but the church has a legal ace up its sleeve, a key letter from the diocese in the 1990s explicitly denying any claim on their property. Not to mention the 30+ years record of CA appellate courts favoring breakaway groups retaining the property if they held the deeds to it (until recently anyway). So the parish would seem to have a very reasonable chance of winning the case.
Therefore, I don’t begrudge them fighting for the property. Should they win, and should the CANA churches win in VA (as they probably will when the state Supreme Court issues its ruling this summer), and should the Diocese of Ft. Worth likewise win in TX, that would set up a real sense of momentum and precedent that could help lots of other churches around the country.
David Handy+
Senior Priest: If St. James’ loses, I would also recommend that the donor who gave land to the church on condition that the Diocese waive any interest it might have in the property (and received a signed letter from the diocese so waiving its interest) sue the living daylights out the TEC diocese for fraud and whatever else.
I’ve been told that one of the wealthier parishoners owns the parking lot so it seems TEC would have no choice but to sell the church building should they win.
#3 archer
Contrary to sometimes popular thought, walking away from the lands and sanctuaries, which have been sanctified for the Kingdom of God, does not constitute the moral high ground. Courageously standing for truth, honoring the stewardship of the church community that faithfully purchased and maintained the property, and resisting the post christian doctrines and designs of those who have abandoned the faith are the morals by which we are called to live. I commend the church at St. James for doing so, and encourage all to pray that they will prevail.
Hear hear, #8!!!