Judge tells Rosemont congregation it must vacate property
Episcopal News Service. September 1, 2011 [090111-04]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
A judge has told a breakaway congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania that its deposed priest and certain members of the vestry must relinquish parish property.
The ruling involves Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, outside of Philadelphia, along with deposed priest David Moyer and some members of the congregation.
The diocese went to court in 2009 saying that Moyer and the members of the parish were violating the Episcopal Church's Constitution and Canons by continuing to hold on to the property. The diocese contended that church's canons require a parish holds its property in trust for the diocese and the Episcopal Church.
"The diocese has sorely missed the Church of the Good Shepherd and all of the robust gifts its members bring to our common ministry," Pennsylvania Bishop Charles Bennison Jr. said in a statement. "We look forward to our future together."
The statement said that members of the deanery which includes Good Shepherd have met with Bennison and the Very Rev. Ledlie Laughlin, Standing Committee president, and offered to help the congregation until a full-time interim rector can be hired. Bennison has appointed Assisting Bishop Rodney Michel to help guide the parish over the next weeks and months, according to the statement.
Moyer told the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper Sept. 1 that he was disappointed with Ott's decision, but would abide by it.
Moyer said that he hopes to become a Roman Catholic priest under the terms offered by Pope Benedict XVI to former Anglican and Episcopal parishes and priests seeking to enter the Catholic Church. Anglicanorum coetibus, the papal document authorizing the offer, is here.
Moyer and lay leaders of Good Shepherd have been at odds with the Episcopal Church and the diocese for close to 10 years for what they see as liberal theological innovations.
An effort to regain control of the Good Shepherd property has been going on for years. In November 2002, the Pennsylvania Standing Committee consented to Bennison's plan to gain control of the Good Shepherd property, according to the 2009 court filing. That consent came after the bishop had deposed Moyer in September of that year, using the "abandonment of communion" provision in the church's canons. The committee told Bennison to try to resolve the dispute and not to begin litigation without getting its advice and consent, the filing said.
Moyer was deposed because he repudiated the discipline of the Episcopal Church, repeatedly refusing to allow Bennison and his predecessor to make formal visits, required by the canons, to the Church of the Good Shepherd, and otherwise rejecting his authority as bishop. Moyer had been rector for 13 years at the time. Moyer also presented confirmands to then-Archbishop Maurice Sinclair of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone without having Bennison's required permission to do so.
Moyer then sued Bennison for his actions, claiming that the bishop, "motivated by secular animosity," had "wrongfully" sought to "force [Moyer] out of his vocation, his church, his congregation and his home." Moyer asked for damages for loss of employment and mental suffering. A Montgomery County jury rejected Moyer's claims in October 2008. Moyer did not appeal that decision and that aspect of the dispute has been concluded.
The aftermath of Moyer's deposition reached far beyond the diocese. Then-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey announced that he did not recognize Moyer's deposition and would license him to officiate in Canterbury. Carey later told ENS that the media had been "simplistic" in their portrayal of his actions.
Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury and then-Archbishop of Wales and Monmouth, said that he would license Moyer in his jurisdiction, except for the fact that "my legal officers would be very reluctant to issue any license to a person not connected in some way with the life of the diocese."
Letters from Carey and Williams about Moyer are available here.
At the same time, the House of Bishops of the Province of Central Africa made Moyer a priest in good standing there. The Central Africa province then transferred Moyer's canonical residency from its Diocese of Upper Shire to the Diocese of Pittsburgh at the request of then-Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, who later transferred him back to Upper Shire. Members of Duncan's immediate family were Good Shepherd members.
Just after Moyer's deposition, then-Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold became involved in the issue, meeting with Bennison, Moyer and the lay leaders of the parish. "Although I have no canonical authority in this diocesan matter, I have employed every means at my disposal to help find a way forward that honored the concerns of all, and strongly urged that they enter into a process of mediation," Griswold said.
Consecrated as a Traditional Anglican Communion bishop in February 2005, Moyer was once president of Forward in Faith North America, an organization which is opposed to what it perceives as liberal trends in the church, including the ordination of women and homosexuals. He is currently listed as an "ex-officio adjunct" member of its council. Former Diocese of Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman is the current president.