Diocese of Virginia: Thirty-day Standstill Agreement Not Renewed

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia announced today that it will not renew the 30 day standstill agreement with the clergy and members of congregations who voted to leave the Episcopal Church to associate with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The terms of the agreement were set to automatically renew unless one party notified the others seven days prior to the expiration of the agreement. The Diocese notified these congregations today of its decision not to renew the agreement, which is set to expire on January 17.

The leadership of the Diocese of Virginia – Bishop Peter James Lee, the Standing Committee and the Executive Board – will meet after the expiration of the standstill agreement to determine their next course of action. Specifically, the Standing Committee must decide the status of the clergy of the departed congregations. In turn, the Executive Board must consider whether the property of these Episcopal churches has been abandoned.

The standstill remains in effect until January 17 and the Diocese will continue to honor its terms and take no legal or canonical actions prior to its expiration. Bishop Lee and other leaders of the Diocese continue to consider the full range of pastoral responsibilities to those faithful Episcopalians in the congregations who chose to remain loyal to the Diocese and The Episcopal Church. link

More from Virginia: John Yates Writes his parish

Dear Friends,

I have just today learned that representatives of the Bishop of Virginia have notified us that the diocese and the national church are no longerinterested in pursuing the friendly negotiations that we had agreed to earlier and that we can expect them to pursue litigation for our property as soon as the “30 day stand still ” agreement expires (Jan 17). They have reached this decision in spite of their earlier support of the “protocol” for departing congregations and in spite of our preliminary meeting less then two weeks ago with the “property committee” set up by Bishop Lee for these negotiations. Apparently now he and the leaders of the Episcopal Church have changed their mind. the rest at titusonenine


Letter from the Senior Warden of Truro Church

Dear members of the Truro family,

We have been informed today that the Diocese of Virginia intends to initiate legal action against us upon the expiration of our “standstill agreement” with them. We have also been informed that the national church intends to participate in this legal action with them. They are apparently intending to take this action despite the earlier assurances that we received from them that they desired to settle our differences amicably, despite their earlier support of the “protocol for departing congregations,” and despite our preliminary meeting less than two weeks ago with the “property committee” set up by Bishop Lee for these negotiations. the rest at babyblueonline

Diocese Won't Extend Pledge Not to Sue
Announcement Dims Hopes for Amicable Deal Over Property in Breakaway Parishes
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Hopes for a peaceful settlement between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and nine breakaway congregations suffered a blow yesterday when the diocese announced it would not renew a mutual promise to avoid litigation over property. story