The language reads thus: "The bill provides that a division of the church, diocese, or society is conclusively presumed when the lesser of 10 congregations or 10 percent of all congregations in the state vote within any 12-month period to separate from the church, diocese, or society, and allows the congregation to report its determination to the appropriate circuit court. In addition, the bill provides that in certain church, diocese, or society property transfers where the property is held for the benefit of the congregation, evidence of the determination of the congregation shall be sufficient proof for granting the transfer."

When word of the bill became known some of Virginia's religious leaders blasted the church property bill including two of the three Virginia Episcopal Bishops, David C. Jones and Francis C. Gray who held a closed door meeting to protest the legislation and
later a press conference condemning the bill.

But Senator Mims has done many revisions of church laws and has three other bills regarding church legislation relating to church incorporation, said the senator's legislative assistant Doug Chaplow to VirtueOnline.

"Senate Democrats as a block voted against it, they see it as a church/state issue and discriminatory against gays," said Chaplow.

Such a bill is, of course, anathema to liberal and revisionist bishops who see holding onto the properties as almost a sacred trust and sacrosanct, a way to push their pansexual agenda unhindered without fear of losing the church property even if the priest and parish, in good conscience, cannot abide their diocesan or national church's decisions in such moral matters.

Fr. Charles H. Nalls, Executive Director of the Canon Law Institute said his organization supported SB1305. "We believe that this bill will be beneficial in resolving a question that has resulted in a patchwork of judicial decisions over a period of years. If passed into law, the bill undoubtedly will be subject to judicial scrutiny. However, a piece of legislation such as this that passes the constitutional test, will be an invaluable model throughout the country.

The American Anglican Council, the orthodox wing of the Episcopal Church also issued a statement regarding Senate Bill 1305 applauding what they saw as the legislature's even-handed protection of the religious liberties of all Virginians.

Cynthia P. Brust, a spokesperson for the AAC wrote: “We were pleased to learn of Senate Bill 1305 that would allow congregations to retain their property if they leave their denomination as a simple issue of justice and religious liberty coupled with property rights, and we support its passage. It is our understanding that this legislation is designed to clarify an existing statute which addresses property issues in the event of a denominational split, but fails to delineate what constitutes such a ‘split’. Bill 1305 helps everybody resolve unnecessary conflict by simply defining a denominational split as 10 churches or 10 percent of the total number of churches within a denomination choosing to disassociate within a calendar year.”

”This bill actually serves to protect all churches and denominations from potentially inconsistent judicial decisions with regard to church property issues. Just as it protects the religious liberties and property rights of congregations, this bill also protects denominations from a few churches departing and declaring a split by providing a clearly defined legal definition to be applied to all churches. The Virginia Attorney General’s Senior Counsel has issued his legal opinion supporting the fairness and constitutionality of this clarifying legislation, stating that ‘the possibility of excessive [state] entanglement is significantly reduced’ if the bill becomes law.”

“The American Anglican Council has consistently stated that congregations who leave a denomination as a matter of their religious free conscience should be allowed to hold the property they have paid for and maintained for generations. From the time of Jefferson, the Commonwealth of Virginia has earned its distinguished reputation for an even-handed protection of religious liberties of all Virginians. Senate Bill 1305 merits our support because it does just that and no more. We urge its prompt passage."

The Episcopal Church adopted the Dennis Canon in 1979 the legal validity of which is very questionable following the wholesale exit of more than 200 parishes at the St. Louis General Convention after the imposition of women's ordination. The Dennis Canon” (Title 1, Canon 7, Section 4 of ECUSA’s canons) specified that all property held by a parish, even if deeded to that parish, is held in trust for the national church and the diocese.

Three Episcopal Church dioceses, Pittsburgh, Ft. Worth and San Joaquin have all passed legislation at their own conventions building firewalls against possible intrusion by the national church into their affairs with regard to property matters.

In the Evangelical Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh their convention passed an amendment which in effect said that the Episcopal Church is a federal system of government, and as such, each diocese is able to set the terms of its relationship with the national church. The terms the diocese has set out now include a proviso that protects the diocese from moves by ECUSA that would take them out of the Christian mainstream.

The Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan who faces one lawsuit from two revisionist parishes said, before becoming moderator of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, that fairness requires allowing congregations to control their own property, even if they choose to leave the Episcopal Church. Parishes conduct day-to-day business with little direct contact with the diocese or national church, so that it is natural for parishioners to think of the local church as “their” church and to resent any suggestion to the contrary.

Under the watchful eye of Robert Devlin, the diocesan chancellor, the diocese passed a Constitutional amendment (overwhelmingly approved by the diocese) pushed by its concern over the national church's moral innovations, now gives the diocese the constitutional foundation needed to differ with the national church when the diocesan convention determines the national body’s decisions “to be contrary to the historic faith and order of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.” In those cases, the amended constitution makes clear that “the local determination shall prevail.”

Bishop Duncan welcomed the passage of the amendment. “This amendment allows us to continue in full relationship with the whole Anglican Communion, affirms our stand as a diocese for the historic faith and order of our church and confirms the actions we took as a diocese last fall to distance ourselves from our national church’s recent theological innovations.”

In the orthodox, Anglo-Catholic Diocese of San Joaquin they passed a resolution that said "no ownership or proprietary interest in any real or personal property in which title and/or ownership is held by the Diocese of San Joaquin, its churches, congregations, or institutions, shall be imputed to any party other than the Bishop as a Corporation Sole (including a trust, express or implied) without the express written consent of the Bishop and the Standing Committee of the Diocese." In short, the national church now has no claims to any property of the diocese. They will have to sue for it, but they cannot use the Dennis Canon.

The Anglo-Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth has done four things to protect itself said The Rev. Charles A. Hough, III, SSC, Canon to the Ordinary and Assistant to the Bishop, to VirtueOnline.

"In 1997 we were the first to take action when the deterioration of the Church set in and we saw the Dennis Canon could be used against us. We added an article that says "providing that no action of General Convention is passed which is contrary to Holy Scripture and the apostolic teaching." This is now in force in this diocese. Secondly in 1989 we changed our canon (18.4) which essentially states that no adverse claim to properties by the ECUSA is acknowledged and expressly denied. ECUSA has no claim on this diocese or the properties. It was never challenged and we set that up a long time ago. Thirdly we distanced ourselves from General Convention by passing Canon 42 in our diocese. 'All members of the clergy shall be under obligation to model received teaching of the church and abstain from sexual relations outside of Holy Matrimony. The Dennis Canon is bunk. Fourthly we allowed our Diocesan Convention to redirect funds to other worthy causes."

Said Hough; "We have built a fire wall between ourselves and General Convention. We are members of the Network individually and we are a network diocese."

RECENTLY in California the State Supreme Court let stand a ruling that allows parishes to take their property with them if they leave their denomination, notwithstanding any denominational trust clause or canon. As a result of this, the court’s decision may impair the Episcopal Church’s ability to use the Dennis Canon in church property disputes in California.

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from the United Methodist church and let stand a Superior Court decision that gave title to a St. Luke's a Fresno church property to a breakaway congregation when it declared its independence from that denomination over the liberal drift of the denomination and in protest over the failure of the local conference to discipline pastors who performed blessings of same-sex unions. The Methodist Church sued the breakaway group which had kept control over the property, arguing that under its canons local congregations held the property in trust for the denomination. They lost.

The Rev. Praveen Bunyan, the orthodox rector of the Episcopal St. James Newport Beach is completely confident that he and the three orthodox parishes in the diocese will prevail in their lawsuits against Episcopal Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno based on state laws that have already been favorably adjudicated in favor of a Methodist congregation.

In the Diocese of Pennsylvania there is litigation against the revisionist Bishop of Pennsylvania, Charles E. Bennison. One case, that of the parish of St. James the Less is currently before the State Supreme Court; Fr. David Moyer (Good Shepherd, Rosemont) is suing the bishop in civil court for fraud and interference with his employment, and at All Saints' Wynnewood, Fr. Edward Rix continues as priest in charge without the permission or license of Bishop Bennison. A court case by All Saints' against Bennison for breach of contract was withdrawn without prejudice.

At the end of the day Bishop Bennison wants all the parish properties and he is willing to lose the priests and congregations to make that happen.

Ironically other Anglican jurisdictions do not have such property laws. Parishes in the Reformed Episcopal Church for instance hold title to their own properties as does the Anglican Province of Christ the King and the ACA.

Clergy from various denominations, the Virginia Council of Churches and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, as well as Americans United for Church and State, were appalled at what they viewed as an assault on church authority and independence.

The Virginia Conference United Methodist bishop sent out an e-mail to all clergy urging them to get involved and oppose this bill. She cited the 1976 case of a Serbian Orthodox church in New York as proof this bill would be unconstitutional. She conveniently left out the recent California Supreme Court ruling that let a United Methodist church leave and take its property with it.

The Colonial churches are a special case, but these are in the patchwork of state decision, and the outcome is unclear.

Opponents of Senate Bill 1305 say it would be an unconstitutional intrusion of the government into that dispute. "It puts us in the middle of that argument, and I think it's very inappropriate that we be there," said Sen. Martin E. Williams (R-Newport News), who said he plans to vote against the bill.

Mims, on the other had said his bill is designed to distance government from church disputes. Without it, he said, courts are forced to look to church doctrine to resolve arguments over congregational property. Those church members who have donated their money to build the church or expand the church or maintain it would probably be surprised to find that an authority hundreds of miles away could take that from them," he said. "If in fact that could happen, it needs to be clearly stated in the deed or trust Agreement," he told the Washington Post.

Mims said the bill was not meant to target the Episcopal denomination or get involved in its internecine conflict. Though the laity in his own Episcopal congregation in Ashburn has discussed the issue, Mims said, there have been no official moves to split with the church. He said the congregation, which objected to New Hampshire's gay bishop and
has joined the opposition Network of Anglican Communion Parishes, did not request that he introduce the bill.

The Rev. Clancy Nixon, vicar of Church of the Holy Spirit, Mims's congregation, said he supports the measure. "They say it's about states interfering with internal church matters. I think that's baloney. It's all about property," Nixon said. "I think the bill is a good idea because it's a basic justice issue. In most cases, the local people bought the property, they paid for it and they maintain it, and now they're being told that in the event of a dispute, they can't keep it."

Although Episcopal Church officials did not learn of the bill until the middle of last week, delegates to the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia's annual convention in Reston over the weekend passed a resolution opposing it, said Russell V. Palmore, the chancellor, or lawyer, of the diocese. "It came up on such short notice, it's been difficult to develop any type of coordinated effort, but I can tell you based on my conversations with other
denominations that we are all against it," he said.

But the proposed legislation also brought a negative rejoinder in an editorial opinion in the Daily Press in Richmond. "This was not territory on which the General Assembly should be treading. It is a direct, frontal attack on the right of a denomination to manage its affairs, both with the faithful and with those who leave its flock."

"The sacred land between church and state, the land where government must not go, has been invaded by the General Assembly. The Senate is moving ahead with a bill that would strip a church of property and grant it to a congregation that wants to split."

"Now the Senate would throw aside a church's canon and give its property to split-off congregations unless the deed specifically titles it to the larger church or diocese. And it would affect not just the Episcopal Church."

"The bill comes from an unsavory source: a relentless, multi-front campaign to constrain the rights and protections of homosexuals. Does anyone believe that the General Assembly would be intervening if the decamping churches were in favor of gay rights?"

For most orthodox Episcopalians this legislation is viewed as blessed relief from the wretched moral aberrations and doctrinal innovations that have been afflicting their beloved Episcopal Church for more than 40 years. The answer is no longer going to be blowing through the deconstructionist and accommodationist winds of General Convention, but in the secular courts where help, like the cavalry, is finally on its way.

END