A.S. Haley: Through a Glass Darkly: Considerations behind the Christ Church Settlement

May 3, 2012

Earlier today, both the Anglican parish of Christ Church in Savannah and the Diocese of Georgia made separate (note: not joint) statements that they had reached a settlement of all their outstanding disputes. (See also the separate message from the Rev. Marc Robertson "to our allies" at this link.) This is good news for Christ Church, and for its stalwart and beleaguered rector and vestry, as I shall explain below. But it is also good news for Episcopalians everywhere, because another unseemly (and even spiteful) dispute among divided Christians has come to an end, so that each group can now pursue their separate ministries as each believes best.

Some concerns have been raised about the effect of the settlement on the other cases now pending before the U. S. Supreme Court. The settlement need not have any effect at all, and we probably won't know in any event whether the Court will accept either of the remaining two cases until next October 1. Let me explain my thinking.

The settlement between Christ Church Anglican and the Diocese of Georgia affects only one of the three petitions that are pending before the Supreme Court. The Diocese had been due to file a response to the petition by May 25; now it will not do so, and the justices will not read the briefs that have already been filed (Christ Church's brief, and two amicus briefs filed on its behalf). But there are similar briefs, and similar amicus briefs, on file and to be filed in the other two cases -- and the issues are virtually identical: can a national church bypass state-law trust requirements to impose a trust on all of its local parish properties? And if it can, is that not a violation of the First Amendment's prohibition against the "establishment" of a church (i.e., favoring it in the law)? the rest