Episcopal Church, San Joaquin diocese amend property dispute
Episcopal News Service. June 2, 2008 [060208-03]
Pat McCaughan, Correspondent for Episcopal Life Media in Province VIII
The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on June 2 amended their complaint in a lawsuit seeking recovery of diocesan real estate and financial assets, adding Merrill Lynch and the "Anglican Diocese Holding Corporation" as defendants.
"The main reason for the amendment is that we have obtained information that John-David Schofield has actually been transferring both real property and investment accounts (the latter held by Merrill Lynch) to non-Episcopal entities, including specifically a new corporation known as the Anglican Diocese Holding Company," said Heather Anderson, an attorney with the Goodwin Procter law firm based in Washington, D.C.
The San Joaquin diocese, along with TEC, sued Schofield and several Episcopal legal entities that he asserts the right to control on April 24 "to establish who is the true incumbent of Corporation Sole, which owns most of the real estate of the diocese and accounts such as the investment fund and trust fund" containing more than $4 million in cash, diocesan chancellor Michael Glass told a gathering in San Joaquin on May 31.
"We are just trying to set aside those transactions," Glass told the "Day of Discernment" conference of about 80 people at Holy Family Church in Fresno on May 31. "We are not going after money or punitive damages, which we are entitled to. We simply want to undo the transactions and have the court declare that John-David Schofield has no more right or authority to purport to act on behalf of the diocese or Corp Sole and to stop doing so."
He said Merrill Lynch was named as a defendant because it "is the institution which holds the accounts for the diocese. We are working with Merrill Lynch, even though they are a defendant," he said.
The June 2 action is the latest development in an ongoing property dispute that began in December after Schofield attempted to remove the diocese from TEC and to realign with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. After a Title IV Review Committee determined Schofield had "abandoned the communion" of the Episcopal Church and the House of Bishops had given its consent to his deposition, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori deposed Schofield and removed him from the episcopate on March 12.
Bishop Jerry Lamb was elected at a special March 29 Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin and formally seated as provisional bishop the same day. He continues to move the Central California Valley diocese, with 20 congregations and faith communities, forward with a message of hope and reconciliation.
Lamb celebrated an invitation to the upcoming Lambeth Conference during the May 31 gathering to discern new directions for ministry within the diocese. Those new directions include a possible national ministry to aid and serve as a resource for other dioceses struggling with similar issues.
"I am pleased to be going but I am more pleased because this is a clear sign from the Anglican Communion that the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin is the only Anglican Diocese in all of inland Central California," Lamb said in remarks posted on the diocesan website.
I received this invitation because I am your Bishop and, therefore, entitled to attend the Lambeth Conference as the Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury. We have much work left to do in bringing this Diocese back together. But, rejoice, sisters and brothers, your faithfulness has been recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury and by the Anglican Communion."
Lamb, who formerly served as Bishop of Northern California, will embark on a series of reconciliation conversations from June 16-19, in Modesto, Fresno, Bakersfield and Stockton. For more information about times and locations, visit the diocesan website.