A judge in Fairfax County will hear evidence starting today in the church-property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and a group of congregations that left to affiliate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
The case involves 11 Northern Virginia congregations in which the majority of members voted to break with the Episcopal Church — the U.S.-based wing of the worldwide Anglican Communion.<\/p>\n
The votes occurred because of disagreements about what one of the group’s leaders called the Episcopal Church’s “blatant rejection of the authority of Scripture.” The consecration of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2003 brought the disagreements to a boiling point.<\/p>\n
“That made us take a look at what was going on — and we were appalled,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, which formed to unite the breakaway congregations and others with similar beliefs. “What that told us was we couldn’t even agree on the ground rules for discussing the issue.”<\/p>\n
The Anglican District of Virginia belongs to a larger organization called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which describes itself as a missionary branch of the Church of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
After the votes, the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia filed suit to retain the property occupied by the departing congregations. Their stance is that “Episcopal Church property, while held by local trustees, is held in trust for the benefit of the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia and Episcopalians throughout the generations,” according to a statement from the diocese.<\/p>\n