Representatives of the Episcopal Church implied if they were victorious in the lawsuit and St. Vincent’s property was indeed vacated, it would be used for mission work. This was not the case when the building sheltering The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in New York City, valued at $386,400, was forced to be vacated and then sold for $50,000 in order to house the Islamic Awareness Center. Time magazine’s David Van Biema reported that Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church “would rather see the churches sold and deconsecrated for secular purposes than passed on to the departing congregations.”
I wonder what kind of message is being sent to the world as ecclesiastical focus shifts from charity to greed. Is it not permissible to just walk away during a disagreement instead of suing one another? I remember those preschoolers in that tiny chapel during the late ’70s settling differences on the playground by a handshake. God bless this grownup mess.
One would never wish to aver that Mrs Schori could possibly be capable of mendacity. Her lawyers, neither.
Wasn’t the church seized and sold in the diocese of Western New York? I can appreciate the confusion between New York city and New York state. A mayoral candidate some years ago suggested that the city seceed from the state as Singapore left Malaysia.
The writer did a good job of presenting her case, including her use of the Binghamton example. I just pray we can all keep eyes fixed on Jesus and what his intentions are in the midst of this ongoing mess.
Thank you [b]yohanelejos[/b] [#3]! Gotta be the first time Our Fair [“Parlor”] City got mistaken for the Big Apple! I guess Ed Koch’s jibe about Upstaters driving 20 miles in a pickup truck to buy a gingham dress or a Sears Roebuck suit didn’t play very well outside the state (thanks for small favors …)
Wait for the rump’s to fire their weapons….. After all, for them it is Holy Stewardship.
I note that nobody disputes that TEC recovered a church building from an orthodox congregation, then sold it to an Islamic Awareness Centre for a fraction of its price.
Let news of this be spread far and wide. Such actions should be exposed to the whole community.
Using the “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it must be a duck.” analogy, Ms. Schori proves that she is not a Christian.
She may claim eccleial authority and wear fancy vestments, but her behavior, as I interpret it, clearly places her ‘in the camp’ of those who have abandoned the Christian Faith.
I notice the writer used the term “deconsecrated” when speaking of the place made into an Islamic center. Isn’t desecrated a little more accurate? Of course they get used as a mosque before they’re sold too.
[blockquote]Deconsecration is the act of removing a religious blessing from something that had been previously consecrated by a minister or priest of that religion.
Desecration (also called desacralization or desanctification) is the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual.[/blockquote]
I would say you are both correct.
My question is that, besided the Dennis Canon, isn’t a large part of TEC’s legal argument is that the parish property must be returned for use by those remaining in TEC, and for future TEC generations?
What does that mean when TEC gets the property, can’t keep it up, then sells it for non-TEC purposes? Any legal minds out there that can help on this one?