"The leadership of the Diocese of Virginia - Bishop Peter James Lee, the Standing Committee and the Executive Board - will meet after the expiration of the standstill agreement to determine their next course of action. Specifically, the Standing Committee must decide the status of the clergy of the departed congregations. In turn, the Executive Board must consider whether the property of these Episcopal churches has been abandoned."

All this is code for lawsuits. By going back on a signed and agreed upon protocol the bishop, in the stroke of a pen negated all the amicable agreements.

"While we had hoped that it would not come to this, it appears that after talking to David Booth Beers, Mrs. Schori's personal attorney on Monday, the diocese (bishop, standing committee, et al.) decided to pursue litigation," a vestry parishioner of Falls Church told VOL.

The standstill remains in effect until January 17, after which the Diocese will pursue legal and canonical options. Their argument is that want to mind "the pastoral responsibilities to those faithful Episcopalians in the congregations who chose to remain loyal to the Diocese and The Episcopal Church."

Leaders of The Falls Church, Truro Church and other Anglican churches in Virginia expressed their profound disappointment over a decision by the Diocese of Virginia to call off negotiations aimed at reaching amicable property settlements. They decried the expenditure of valuable resources to litigate property issues versus the myriad benefits of devoting time, energy, prayer and other resources to unifying mission work.

"We are greatly saddened by this regrettable decision by the Diocese. We urge the Diocese and The Episcopal Church to return, with all the Christian charity each of us can muster, to the important work of reaching amicable settlements," said the Rev. John Yates, Rector, The Falls Church.

David Booth Beers, Chancellor of The Episcopal Church also indicated to the congregations that it intends to intervene in these Virginia matters. This new move constitutes a change of position by the present Presiding Bishop from her predecessor, who had indicated that resolution of property issues should be left to individual dioceses.

Mrs. Schori demonstrated her desire for "shalom" recently by intervening in an ongoing lawsuit between the Diocese of Central New York and a local parish that had fled that diocesan jurisdiction.

The Diocese's cessation of negotiations comes after Bishop Peter Lee appointed Yates and two other leaders representing The Falls Church and Truro Church, as well as, three representatives of the Diocese, to serve on a committee to develop a protocol expressly designed to avoid litigation. After unanimously agreeing to the protocol, all six committee members presented it to Lee September 28, 2006. Lee frequently called this protocol a "useful way forward" as a means of staying out of court.

The moves toward litigation by the Diocese and the national church appear at odds with the Diocese's announcement of a "Property Commission" on December 18, 2006. It charged this commission with "addressing matters of real and personal property on behalf of the Diocese." Its first meeting was less than two weeks ago and congregations were in the process of responding to various requests from the Diocese.

Despite the growing tensions between these churches and the Diocese, Yates and Jim Oakes, Senior Warden at Truro Church, reaffirmed that all individuals, Anglican, Episcopalian or otherwise are welcome in worship at these churches and the growing number of Anglican churches throughout the region.

Yates emphasized "we are following the express determination of our congregations which voted by substantial majorities in mid-December to sever ties with The Episcopal Church over its disregard for the authority of Holy Scripture and departure from the historic teaching of the Anglican Communion. It also authorized church leaders to take prudent steps if necessary to defend our property interests in court," Yates added.

Yates joined Oakes in repeating a few of the basic facts that underscore why these congregations own their property. First and foremost, they said, the deeds generally grant the property to local congregations, not the Diocese. Second, Virginia courts have said more than once that so-called denomination "trusts" in congregational property is not valid in the state. Third, congregations' properties have been purchased, built, improved and maintained with donations from the members of each congregation, not from the Diocese. Fourth, the flow of financial support has run from the congregations to the Diocese, not the other way around.

The division within the Anglican Communion and its subparts, the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and the Diocese of Virginia, has been recognized by authorities throughout the communion, including in the Diocese. Over the past year, the congregations in Virginia that have severed ties with the denomination represent about 15 percent of the average Sunday attendance and approximately 19 percent of congregational operating revenue in the Diocese. These congregations are larger than 52 of the U.S. dioceses in the denomination in terms of average Sunday attendance.

Other congregations in the Diocese of Southern Virginia and more than 100 other Episcopal congregations throughout the United States also have severed ties with The Episcopal Church in the U.S. in recent years.

"For the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia to pursue a lawsuit over the property of the Falls Church, Truro Church and those Virginia congregations who affiliate with them is to express the most vicious kind of tyranny and intolerance. Given the broken state of the Anglican Communion, it is an action without moral excuse. Under the guise of honoring the original intent of the donors of that property, the Episcopal Church has elevated avarice to an ethical principle employed for the pursuit of wealth and power. It is a charade as old as the Garden of Eden. Any churchgoer with any moral integrity should be outraged," said the Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, rector of the Church of the Good Samaritan, one of the largest orthodox parishes in the Northeast in Paoli, Pennsylvania. This action by the bishop comes as no surprise to this writer. It was, in fact, expected. When he was Presiding Bishop, Frank Tracy Griswold hated confrontation, and did his best to keep the lid on explosive situations like this, often dragging out decisive action for months before finally acting.

It took him almost two years to get rid of the worthless Jo Mo Doss, Bishop of N.J. Ecclesiastical charges against the Bishop of Connecticut, Drew Smith have still not been resolved, and he steadfastly refused to enter diocesan disputes when fleeing parishes had come into conflict with their bishop.

After Bishop Bennison rejected Griswold's letter telling him to back down from his persecution of Fr. David Moyer (and after Bennison concealed that letter from the standing committee), Griswold did nothing. In Bennison's legal dog fight with Fr. David Moyer, he opined that he would like to meet them all on a "plain beyond good and evil." It never happened of course. Moyer and Bennison are in court today and ecclesiastical charges against Benison have been filed with the Title IV Review Committee. Griswold's final act was to declare the Bishop of San Joaquin, John-David Schofield not guilty of charges that he abandoned the communion of the church - charges brought by four other California bishops. He also kept his legal pit bull David Booth Beers on a short leash.

Not so with Mrs. Schori. Since she took office, she and Beers have gone on a rampage threatening and filing charges against priests and parishes who attempt to leave and threatening bishops who won't toe the line.

We are just beginning to see the truth about Mrs. Schori, and today's actions by the Bishop of Virginia and David Booth Beers should be a wake up call to the Global South Primates who meet next month in Tanzania, that they should give her the same treatment she is dishing out to orthodox parishes in America - an exit ticket from the Primates meeting and the Anglican Communion.

END

WHY WE LEFT THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
A priest and a scholar tell why.
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