Breakaway Parishes Fight ECUSA Diocese for Church Property
by Jim Brown
October 15, 2004
(AgapePress) - Three Anglican churches in California that were sued for leaving the Episcopal Church USA have filed responses to the lawsuits against them.The lawsuits brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles seek to confiscate the property of St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints Church in Long Beach, and St. David's Church in North Hollywood. However, the churches have filed demurrers, or motions to dismiss the diocese's complaints, arguing that no unlawful conduct has taken place and the property rightfully belongs to the individual parishes.
The three conservative Anglican parishes in Southern California left the ECUSA, citing the denomination's disregard for scripture as the reason. The churches abandoned the local diocese in mid-August, choosing to align themselves with an Anglican diocese in Uganda instead.
In response, attorneys for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles sent angry demand letters to the three churches late in September, insisting they return all of their Bibles and hymnals to the diocese, discontinue their worship services, and vacate the church property. The diocese filed its lawsuits against the three breakaway congregations a week and a half later.
Attorney Eric Sohlgren is the legal spokesperson for the conservative parishes. He says the Diocese has not paid one dime for the property it is attempting to possess. "Here we have three local churches that are all separately incorporated," he explains. "They're separate, nonprofit religious corporations. Each of them has the property deeds in their own name. They have not received any kind of financial support from the Diocese of Los Angeles for decades."
In fact, Sohlgren points out, each of the three churches has sent millions of dollars to the Diocese of Los Angeles over a period of many decades. Meanwhile, he adds, "Some of the churches have had extensive building programs in the last decade or two, and many families in these parishes have dug deep into their pockets to contribute."
But despite the tensions of the dispute with the L.A. Diocese, the churches' representative asserts that the legal wrangling has not affected his clients' ministry efforts. He insists what the members of these congregations all are about, at heart, "is serving Jesus Christ and doing mission work." For example, he notes one of St. James' current undertakings, a program to plant new churches around Southern California.
"All of the people in these churches have a heart for mission," Sohlgren says. "This is one of the reasons that they have aligned with Uganda, where the ties go back many, many years because of missionaries sent to Uganda."
The demurrer and a similar motion in the St. James case will be heard in early November. Motions involving the other two churches will be heard by mid-December.
