Lawsuit is filed over Fallbrook church
By Sandi Dolbee
UNION-TRIBUNE STA
FF WRITER
September 30, 2006

In what could be the first salvo of a wider legal battle over ownership issues, officers of St. John's Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego are suing for possession of what is now St. John's Anglican Church in Fallbrook.

A majority of St. John's members voted two months ago to leave the diocese, but remain on the property with its rector, the Rev. Donald Kroeger, under the jurisdiction of an Anglican bishop in Africa.

A civil lawsuit filed this week in San Diego Superior Court argues that St. John's Anglican is illegally occupying the Iowa Street property and excluding “faithful Episcopal clergy and members.”

“This is a part of due process,” Howard Smith, spokesman for the San Diego diocese, said yesterday. “It's determining who the rightful owners of the property are – and the church, as it was built as St. John's Episcopal Church, and the vestry of St. John's Episcopal Church believe that they are the rightful owners.” the rest



St. John's Anglican Church (Fallbrook, CA) Responds to Lawsuit by Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
September 29, 2006 10:23 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rick Crossley
Phone: 760-723-3246
E-Mail: stjohnsanglican@sbcglobal.net

Fallbrook, Calif. – September 28, 2006 – On Thursday, the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, led by Episcopal Bishop James Mathes, filed suit against Fr. Donald Kroeger, nine church volunteers, and St. John’s Church, Fallbrook, in an attempt to confiscate their property and punish St. John’s members for exercising their religious freedom of choice to affiliate with another diocese and bishop in the Anglican Communion.

In July, an overwhelming majority of members of St. John’s voted to end their spiritual affiliation with the Episcopal Church due to its forty year drift away from orthodox Christian belief, and to align with the Anglican Church of Uganda. St. John’s is among hundreds of churches and thousands of individuals that have left the Episcopal Church in the past few years over issues of church doctrine.

the rest at Connecticut Six