Episcopal parishes awarded property, assets
By Julia Duin
April 4, 2008
A Fairfax circuit judge has awarded a favorable judgment to a group of 11 Anglican churches that were taken to court last fall after breaking away from the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006.
In an 83-page opinion released late last night, Judge Randy Bellows ruled that Virginia's Civil War-era “division statute” granting property to departing congregations applies to the Northern Virginia congregations, which are now part of the Nigerian-administered Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
“The court finds that a division has occurred in the diocese,” the judge wrote. “Over 7 percent of the churches in the diocese, 11 percent of its baptized membership and 18 percent of the diocesan average attendance of 32,000 [per Sunday] have left in the past two years.”
The lawsuit, which is the largest property case to date in the history of the Episcopal Church, involves millions of dollars of real estate and assets. With the finding that a division has occurred, the congregations get to keep the property under Virginia law. the rest
VIRGINIA: Judge Rules in Favor of Dissenting Anglican Churches
Virtue Online
posted by Pat Dague @ 9:54 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
The reappraiser's correctly point out that the headline is incorrect. What happened is that the judge recognized the obvious, division has occurred. No kidding?
robroy
Robroy said: What happened is that the judge recognized the obvious, division has occurred.
Actually, you are right–the headline is misleading,... but the story is in fact quite accurate. As to the “obvious” division–that was not so obvious to the ECUSA lawyers who had argued in their legal case that there was not a division. The ECUSA lawyers argued that there was no division because “people can leave the Episcopal Church but not congregations.” That argument might sound good in the halls of 815 Second Avenue, but it didn’t cut much with this judge. The judge did indeed recognize the obvious, but the ECUSA position has denied the obvious.
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