St. Andrews Church is a member of the Anglican Communion Network which seeks to be faithful to the traditional teachings of the Church.

Said Judge Carni, "Any attempt to sell this real estate must be approved by a Superior Court judge. You have agreed that no property will be sold unless the application is made to justice James Murphy. This, I think, gets most parties where they want to go," he concluded.

The judge left open the door to the diocese collecting monies at a later date "if the plaintiff is successful."

When VOL called the diocese, Ms. Kathleen McDaniel, Executive Assistant to the Bishop said the parish rector of St. Andrew's, the Rev. Christopher T. Hayes III was no longer there.

This is the second parish in the diocese to come under fire from liberal Episcopal Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams. Last year the bishop inhibited Fr. David Bollinger, priest for 20 years at St. Paul's, Owego, NY for alleged financial irregularities, and because the priest revealed sex abuse charges by a previous priest of his parish.

The Episcopal Church's ratification of homosexuality in the church was the "lightning rod" that has separated St. Andrew's parish from the diocese, said Raymond Dague, parish attorney. In 2004, Adams voted for the consecration of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man.

In February the parish of 175 members filed an amendment to its certificate of incorporation, requesting that ecclesiastic oversight shift from Adams to Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of the Anglican Church in Rwanda and putative head of the Anglican Mission in America, a group of orthodox Episcopalians who broke away from The Episcopal Church five years ago for its apostate teachings.

Dague, the attorney for the parish represented the defendants, said that such an order would have effectively shut the church down.

"If you can't pay the priest's salary, the electric bills, the phone bill, the secretary, and the organist, and even a lawyer to defend this lawsuit, it is pretty hard to run a church," said Dague. "For Bishop Skip Adams and the Episcopal diocese to try to stop a parish from conducting its weekly worship goes beyond mean-spirited."

He said it is the diocese's position that the diocese, not the parish, owns the real estate. Therefore, he said, the parish should not be able to transfer ownership of the property.

Dague said he does not know if the restraining order would freeze the church's money completely. He said St. Andrew's is not planning to sell the church but wants to make sure the parish still has access to money to pay the day-to-day operating expenses.

In a statement to the press, Dague said, "In suing the parish the bishop treats the scripture about not suing your Christian brother in a secular court (1 Corinthians 6:1-8) just the same as he treats the scripture about homosexual behavior being a sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The people behind this lawsuit are perfectly consistent in their contempt for God's word. This is an attempt to destroy a biblically faithful congregation because some of the leaders of the Episcopal Church just can't live with a parish being faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

THE REV. BOB HACKENDORF

The Rev. Bob Hackendorf rector of St. Andrew's (on the Green) now an AMIA parish, told VirtueOnline that nothing changed with yesterday's court ruling. "They were trying to shut the church down and freeze the assets. It was a victory for us," he said.

"We will have three services on Sunday as usual. I am saddened by the fact that the diocese would take us to court, particularly in the midst of talks between our senior Warden and the bishop with the purpose to amicably settle our differences without recourse to secular courts. Our leadership really feels betrayed."

His parish is the largest attended parish in the Diocese of Central New York and he told VOL that he had repeatedly tried to work with the bishop when he came to the parish but was refused reception by the bishop and Standing Committee because he had been told that he had "unresolved issues with the TEC".

"The bishop would not receive me as a priest from the Province of Rwanda even though he had gotten his Letter Dismissory from the Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini."

Hackendorf said he wanted his letter back from Bishop Adams because he said, the bishop would not act on it. "We were at the end of the process, there wasn't much point in continuing and at that time I started celebrating. Adams sent me a letter on my 39th birthday rescinding my license as a pastoral leader. He has never acknowledged me as a priest."

Hackendorf joined the AMIA after the parish and vestry unanimously agreed to do so. The diocese thinks there is a remnant here that would go with them. They are sadly mistaken."

The next hearing will be held Sept. 1. "This is a classic Dennis Canon lawsuit to seize the parish. We are the most recent in a long stream of many parishes that have to struggle with the same thing. For us the property is not the 'b' all and end all. For the diocese it clearly is."

The Rt. Rev. Sandy Green, Hackendorf's bishop, said the parish did due diligence in its search for a new rector and wanted to work with Bishop Adams. He is a godly, smart man and a good teacher. He was rejected by the bishop and Diocesan Standing Committee of the diocese when he made application to be received as an Episcopal priest. He was willing to submit to Bishop Adams and he would have stayed as a Network affiliate parish still within the diocese if Adams had received the parish's choice of priest. It was the bishop's rejection of this godly evangelical that has caused the current crisis," he told VOL.

END

Sources include: Raymond Dague, the Syracuse Post and
Matt Kennedy of www.StandFirminFaith.com