OOPS! The Episcopal congregations voted and then - following the Diocese of Virginia's Protocol for Departing Churches - filed that vote in their local court house. WE DID NOT, repeat, did not seek the court's declaration. We thought we were following the Diocese of Virginia's Protocol and that we were entering into property negotiations by joining Bishop Lee's official Diocese of Virginia Property Committee (the Diocese fails to mention that part - or the Standstill Agreement that the Diocese entered into with the Virginia Churches as we prepared for the next phase in the Protocol). The property negotiations had all ready been modeled for us by the property negotiations between the Diocese of Virginia and All Saints, Dale City. This all came to a sudden halt in January 2007 following a meeting of the Diocese of Virginia's Standing Committee, Executive Board, and Bishop Lee with the Presiding Bishop's Chancellor, David Booth Beers. Within days of that meeting, the standstill agreement was abruptly cancelled, lawsuits against the 200 lay volunteers and their clergy were filed by the Diocese and then another set by 815, the clergy were inhibited (even the ones who were remaining Episcopalian), and health benefits for clergy and staff were cut off, including COBRA benefits that cost the Diocese nothing but their honor. One thinks that David Booth Beers could not have the Diocese of Virginia declaring the facts that division had indeed occurred (as the Protocol stipulated) or their whole House of Cards would tumble.

The Diocese: "The Diocese and the Episcopal Church responded to those filings and are defendants in those cases."

OOPS: Defendants. That's rich. The Diocese sued 200 lay volunteers and their rectors and the Episcopal Church followed by filing their own lawsuit, also suing 200 lay volunteers and their rectors and the churches are the defendants - not the Diocese and TEC. The Diocese is the one that left the negotiation table. The Diocese and TEC who are the ones who filed suit. This assertion is so blatantly a major OOPS it is shocking. We're the defendants. We're the ones sued. Does the Diocese really think we're all a bunch of stupid sheep?

The Diocese: Subsequently, the Diocese and the Episcopal Church filed complaints seeking a declaration that Episcopal Church property, while held by local trustees, is held in trust for the benefit of the Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia and Episcopalians throughout the generations.

OOPS: The Diocese sued personally nearly 200 lay volunteers and their rectors when the The Commonwealth of Virginia does not recognize suing non-stipend volunteers in these circumstances (as the Diocese and 815 later found out). In addition, the Commonwealth of Virginia has not recognized implied trusts. Wishing it were so does not make it so, any more than wishing their was no division makes it so.

The Diocese: Those cases have yet to be scheduled for trial.

OOPS: The first trial is set for Nov. 13-19 and will cover the Virginia statute that the Protocol was based upon, a Protocol written by the Diocese of Virginia's own Chancellor, former Standing Committee President, Reconciliation Task Force Chairman, the retired Chancellor of the Diocese of Virginia, a Parish Trustee, and the rector of a historic parish. At issue is whether the Virginia statute applies to this case and that there is indeed division within the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church. If this is not the case, then Judge Bellows has the week off.

The Diocese: At issue is the real and personal property of 11 Episcopal churches.

OOPS: No, at issue is the fact that we are a divided church. The Diocese of Virginia and 815 are of the mind that there is no division unless they say there is a division. Never mind that eleven churches followed a Protocol developed by the Diocese of Virginia under the personal authority of the Diocesan Bishop that acknowledged the division, not the report issued by the Diocese of Virginia's Reconciliation Task Force that acknowledge a "Level Five" conflict in the Diocese. Let's say that word together D I V I S I O N. At issue is the division in the Diocese of Virginia and the Episcopal Church. Does anyone think we're all one big happy family and everything is just fine, thank you very much? One does not use the word "division" in polite company.

The Diocese: In each case, that property currently is occupied and used by non-Episcopal congregations. Four continuing Episcopal congregations have been denied use of their property, locked out of their buildings, deprived of their rights to that property and forced into exile.

OOPS: All the parishes welcome all people. Episcopalians fill the pews of the Virginia churches since Bishop Lee has done nothing to excommunicate (as he did with some of the Virginia rectors and clergy in those parishes) the laity in those parishes.

I am still an Episcopalian worshiping in a CANA Church. I keep praying for repentance and reconciliation. But we are divided Episcopalians and some of us have found shelter in CANA congregations. All are welcome in the parishes, including Episcopalians. We are family. The people of those parishes followed the Protocol for Departing Parishes and voted to separate from the Diocese of Virginia and remain in the Anglican Communion. No one - repeat no one has been "locked out of their buildings, deprived of their rights to that property and forced into exile." That is simply outrageous. It sounds like the Diocese of Virginia thinks its some Social Club and they get to define what is a true Episcopalian. Episcopalians are confirmed or received by a bishop in the Episcopal Church.

My reception into the Episcopal Church is still valid, though I was reaffirmed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury with Bishop Lee's permission. I haven't been received or confirmed into any other denomination. I am an Episcopalian. And last time I checked I wasn't denied the use of the property, I wasn't locked out the building, and I have not been deprived of my rights to that property (so I have rights?). And neither has any other Episcopalian member of Truro. We are family. CANA provides us a way to stay in the Anglican Communion. If I went to a Lutheran Church, I'd still be an Episcopalian attending a Lutheran Church. If I went to a Methodist Church, I'd be an Episcopalian attending a Methodist Church. If I went to Catholic Church, I would definitely be an Episcopalian attending a Catholic Church. I am an Episcopalian member of a CANA Church, a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion. If I say I am Anglican, does that mean I am no longer Episcopalian? If this is so, then it is the Episcopal Church that has left me. It is the Episcopal Church that has forced us into exile. And so I am Anglican. I choose to be Anglican. And the certificate that Lord Carey gave me says that I am Anglican.

The Diocese: By agreement of the parties, all cases were consolidated in Fairfax Circuit Court, and they have been assigned to Judge Randy I. Bellows.

And that, friends, is the one statement that is true.

END