New lawsuits face Church in USA

Wednesday, 25th November 2009
By George Conger

The Episcopal Church’s legal wars continued unabated last week, with new lawsuits in Tennessee, and appeals filed in Pittsburgh, Georgia and San Joaquin.

The Diocese of Tennessee on Oct 30 filed suit against St Andrew’s Church in West Nashville, asking a state court to grant it control of the parish’s property. In 2006 the congregation quit the diocese to affiliate with the Diocese of Quincy and is now part of the Anglican Church of North America.

Tennessee caught many observers by surprise as it had been numbered among the conservative communion partners group, which had pledged to abide by the Windsor Report process, including the primates’ call for a halt to lawsuits.

The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh announced last week that it would appeal against a lower court ruling granting control of the diocese’s assets to a loyalist faction aligned with the national church. “Our decision to appeal is for the purpose of protecting the mission of our 51 local congregations. Left uncontested, the award of all diocesan assets to the minority party, a group that comprises only a third of the parishes that were a part of our diocese when we withdrew from the Episcopal Church, would establish a precedent that we believe the minority would use to take steps to seize all the assets of all our local parishes,” the diocese said. the rest