Litigation over ownership of St. Stephens Church in Heathsville and eight other churches that formerly housed Episcopal congregations entered a new phase when the parties filed their post-trial briefs in August.
The briefs followed a 22-day trial at which 67 witnesses appeared and “thousands of exhibits” were filed, according to the brief for the defendant churches all of which have disassociated themselves from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA). According to the schedule set up by the Circuit Court of Fairfax where the case over ownership of the nine churches is being tried, the parties may respond to each other’s briefs by Sept. 23 and after that the court may hear oral argument and decide the cases.
It is clear that the reporter does not know that the TEC “church members” belong to Potemkin parishes.
How does one become a “Potemkin” parish? I believe I belong to a parish that No. 1 is referring to, but the Russian elements are nil or negligible, and it has been around since the mid-18th Century. Some of our members left in late 2006 to join another denomination, but we just kept right on. Does that mean we’re now “potemkin-ed”?