A legal dispute with Episcopal Church hierarchy sends the wrong message

Sunday, May. 15, 2011
By Sherry Heiser

Excerpt:
Under the direction of our Bishop Jack Iker, Father Reed leads our parish in accordance with a scripture-based church constitution. Its policies and programs are reviewed every three years during the General Convention.

During the last convention meeting, disagreement over abandonment of biblical and church traditions within the Episcopal Church resulted in a nationwide division. St. Vincent's attempted to peacefully secede from the Episcopal denomination and join a different Anglican body. The Episcopal Church responded by filing a lawsuit against Iker and others demanding all properties to be vacated including the eviction of priests.

Attorney Roy Golsan of Grapevine estimates the cost required to prosecute this lawsuit is reaching into the millions. In fact, the court file is about 5 feet thick. (Copies of the filings in this lawsuit are available at the Tarrant County District Clerk's office for a fee.)

Representatives of the Episcopal Church implied if they were victorious in the lawsuit and St. Vincent's property was indeed vacated, it would be used for mission work. This was not the case when the building sheltering The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in New York City, valued at $386,400, was forced to be vacated and then sold for $50,000 in order to house the Islamic Awareness Center. Time magazine's David Van Biema reported that Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of the Episcopal Church "would rather see the churches sold and deconsecrated for secular purposes than passed on to the departing congregations."  the rest