Oakes said he could find no motive for the Episcopal Church's suing lay individuals except with the motive "to terrorize us."

"Virginia law is abundantly clear that voluntary leaders of non-profit organizations are immune from civil liability unless the plaintive alleges willful misconduct or criminal negligence and they have not alleged any of this," he told VOL. "They are trying to terrorize people and we believe that their only intention it to send a signal to lay church leaders across the country who follow us. They are trying to implement a dampening effect on other churches that are looking at us and hope they will lie low and not try and leave the Episcopal Church. Attorneys for the diocese and The Episcopal Church are following a scorched earth policy."

The Episcopal Church recently filed a motion amending their lawsuit to add individual vestry members who were elected to the vestries of these new churches long after they had left TEC according to Oakes.

"This makes the sin more egregious. These lay people were not even on board when the parishes were with TEC, but since they left the diocese and TEC and joined CANA and the Anglican District of Virginia they have now been singled out by the diocese for legal action. It is all about intimidation."

Oakes says the priests and parishes are determined that this distraction will not keep them from their core mission. "To that end we have determined we will not let legal expenses cause us to curtail any of our mission and ministry.

"Our strong desire is to be a facilitating presence for orthodox Anglicanism in Virginia. We don't want to be in a legal fight with the Diocese of Virginia, we are missionary church and nothing will cause us to lose our focus," said Oakes who is a vestry member at Truro Anglican Church.

"We are not feeling is the least threatened by their suing us. It is incredibly frustrating. We did not make any of these moves. We went through an extensive discernment process and we made sure we informed the diocese of what we were doing every step of the way. We had a number of face to face meetings with Bishop Peter James Lee."

Oakes said the directors and officers of the sued churches had retained lawyers and insurance law covers them.

To date 11 (being sued) of the 19 parishes have spent nearly $1 million but expect the tab to be closer to $5 million when it is all done. Oakes estimates the diocese will spend $3-5 million for a total of nearly $10 million, money that should have been spent on mission work.

"One of the tragedies is the right the diocese thinks it has if it wins to take over a bunch of empty buildings. Our churches are vibrant and growing congregations. We have new Confirmands almost weekly joining the church, with vibrant Vacation Bible Schools for future generations in our churches.

"They (the diocese) chose to sever their ties with us. We are confident of our position. Our churches are healthy and growing. We are not mad at anybody. We grieve for the Episcopal Church."

Oakes said the 19 churches from the two African Anglican jurisdictions work cooperatively. "We are delighted for the kind of partnerships that Archbishops Henry Luke Orombi and Peter Akinola demonstrate. Both Bishop Martyn Minns of CANA and bishop-elect John Guernsey will be working together. This is a partnership, it is not competitive; we have completely congregational support."

The Virginia churches are actively soliciting contributions to a legal defense fund. They invite people to make contributions to:

Anglican District of Virginia Legal Defense Fund
c/o- Truro Church
10520 Main Street
Fairfax, VA 22030.

END