California Parishes Await High Court Announcement

October 2, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to announce as early as Monday whether it will hear a property-rights case between the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach.

The court's decision on whether it will hear the case could affect another parish formerly associated with the Episcopal Church: St. Luke's Anglican Church in La Crescenta.

On Sept. 30, Judge John Shepard Wiley, Jr., of the Los Angeles Superior Court, Fourth Appellate District, ordered St. Luke's to surrender the church property to the diocese by Oct. 12. The diocese plans to re-establish St. Luke's-of-the-Mountains Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles, will preside at a service of reconciliation at 2 p.m. Oct. 18, the feast day of St. Luke. the rest