[Episcopal News Service] Two Episcopal Church dioceses, Virginia and Pittsburgh, continue to make progress in settling disputes over property.
The Diocese of Virginia announced a settlement with Church of Our Saviour, Oatlands, following a Feb. 20 congregational vote in favor of the move. Our Saviour is one of nine congregations in which the majority of members and leaders left the Episcopal Church in 2006 and then sought to retain Episcopal church property.
According to the announcement the congregation will discontinue its efforts to keep the Oatlands church and immediately conclude all litigation regarding it. Our Saviour will lease the Oatlands church from the diocese for up to five years, and retain the parish funds it has on hand. It will use "a significant portion of those funds" for maintenance and much-needed repairs of the Oatlands church, the announcement said. The congregation will also retain several memorial items.
Church of Our Saviour will also "voluntarily disaffiliate" from any connection to the Convocation of Anglican Churches in North America (CANA), the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) and the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). In addition, Our Saviour has agreed that no bishop will visit the congregation without the permission of Virginia Bishop Shannon S. Johnston, the announcement said.
"It is truly heartening for us to come to an agreement," Johnston said in the announcement. "This settlement ensures that the legacy entrusted to the Episcopal Church continues, while providing a clear way forward for the Oatlands congregation."
Johnston added that the diocese is "grateful to the leadership of the Church of Our Saviour for engaging in these good-faith negotiations. It is my hope that other congregations in this litigation will consider the benefits of a similar approach."
Our Saviour's members were among those of 11 congregations of the Virginia diocese who broke away from the diocese and the Episcopal Church. In September 2008 the diocese and the Episcopal Church reached a legal settlement with two of the congregations, Potomac Falls Church in Potomac Falls and Christ the Redeemer Church in Chantilly, neither of which held any real property.
In litigation over church property, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in June 2010 in favor of the diocese and the Episcopal Church, holding that although the disagreements had caused "a division" within the Episcopal Church and the diocese, the breakaway congregations had affiliated with a church that was not a branch of either the Episcopal Church or the diocese. Such an affiliation is required, the court said, for Virginia's one-of-a-kind "Division Statute" (Section 57-9(A)) to apply.
The court sent the case back to the Fairfax Circuit Court, where a trial on property issues for the remaining Episcopal church properties is scheduled to begin on April 25.
More information about the cases, including the Supreme Court filings, is available here.
And in Pittsburgh, the diocese issued property-dispute settlement guidelines Feb. 17. Bishop Kenneth Pricewrote to 41 congregations in which the majority of members and leaders have not been active in the diocese since October 2008 inviting them to begin conversations aimed at reaching negotiated settlements similar to those recently announced with the Somerset Anglican Fellowship and with St. Philip's Church in Moon Township.
Price's letter "also pointed to consequences" of becoming a "transitional parish" if they have not financially contributed to the diocese for more than two years, a diocesan announcement said. The consequences include the fact that diocesan canons say that "the title of all property held by or for the use of that parish shall be vested in the Board of Trustees for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh."
Price said that "under the most favorable interpretation of our diocesan canons," the congregations would have until March 13 to resume their participation and payment of assessments.
Both the letter and an accompanying "pastoral direction" state that while a reconciliation and return are hoped for, where that is not be possible, an amicable resolution of differences can be achieved. The pastoral direction includes an 8-point overview of what would be involved in those conversations.
The announcement said that negotiations would be based on an acknowledgement of Episcopal Church canons concerning property, the value of all parish property and assets would be taken into account and that discussions had to take place on a parish-by-parish basis.
During the negotiations, the diocese will determine how best to minister to any members of the congregation who wish to remain Episcopalian and is committed to allocating financial and personnel resources to address those needs, the announcement said.
Both the diocese and the parish would seek any needed court approvals of any negotiated settlement, according to the pastoral direction.
In the Somerset agreement, the congregation is to return property to the diocese and can affiliate with any religious body of its choosing. St. Philip's will become an independent congregation, retain its property and make payments to the diocese, but agreed to no longer be affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh or any similar group outside the Episcopal Church for a minimum of five years. Both parishes agreed to not support any litigation against the diocese.
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