Taskforce of lawyers ready for Anglican split
20 November 2005
By Kieron Wood

American Anglican bishops have set up a taskforce of lawyers to prevent breakaway conservative congregations holding onto property worth billions of dollars.

The group was set up following a meeting in San Juan of the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church of the USA (ECUSA). The Church is facing a schism over the decision of the diocese of New Hampshire to ordain a practising gay man as bishop.

Conservative dioceses in the US have threatened to secede from ECUSA and form their own Anglican province. Some parishes in liberal dioceses have already declared themselves out of communion with their bishop and have asked traditional bishops from other provinces - particularly England and Africa - to carry out confirmations and ordinations.

A liberal Episcopalian group has already drawn up plans to oust the conservatives in the event of a split. The group proposes to file charges against the bishops in Church courts, replace them with interim liberal bishops and then file claims in the secular courts to seize diocesan property.

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