SAN DIEGO: Court ruling favors Episcopal Church, diocese; disputed property must be returned
Episcopal News Service. November 16, 2009 [111609-04]
Pat McCaughan
A Superior Court judge ruled Nov. 10 that the property and assets of two Diocese of San Diego congregations whose leadership attempted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church are held for the mission and ministry of the wider church.
As in other California court decisions Judge Steven Denton ruled that church property cannot be retained by departing members.
In issuing his opinion, Denton noted that it was undisputed that leadership of the two congregations -- St. Anne's Church in Oceanside and Holy Trinity Church in Ocean Beach -- had agreed from the beginning of their existence to be part of a greater denominational church and to be bound by that greater church's governing instruments.
Bishop Jim Mathes of San Diego said that the ruling, while a hard decision for members of dissenting congregations, also represented "an opportunity for reconciliation and renewal" should any of them desire to return to the diocese.
"We are eager to welcome these individuals back into the Episcopal Church. There is no need for anyone to change their place of worship," Mathes said in a statement to the media released Nov. 13. "We will celebrate the same service from the same prayer book at the same altar."
"This decision follows all other major decisions regarding property in a hierarchical church," added Mathes. "The Diocese of San Diego is grateful to conclude this necessary but painful season."
"This decision reaffirms the principle that the property of an Episcopal congregation must be used to further the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church," said Baker & McKenzie partner, Charles H. Dick, chancellor of the diocese and its attorney in the property litigations. "People should be free to leave the Episcopal Church if they wish, but they cannot take the property of the Episcopal Church with them when they depart."
The Rev. Joseph Rees, priest-in-charge of St. Anne's, in a telephone interview late Nov. 13 said he was disappointed by Denton's ruling but added that his congregation "will be abiding by the will of the judge. We want to be gracious and loving to our neighbors. We continue to abide by the authority of Holy Scriptures."
Rees said that he had not yet received a copy of the judgment and was uncertain when a handover might take place. "Bishop Mathes has been gracious in this regard" about working out logistics for property return, he added.
He said he doubted if any members of his congregation, about 225, would return to the diocese. "We're looking forward to whatever God has in store for us," he said.
On March 11 of this year, the California Supreme Court had dismissed a petition for review filed by former members of St. John's Episcopal Church in Fallbrook, another congregation whose leadership purported to disaffiliate from the San Diego diocese. That decision effectively ended claims that dissident members had the authority to take exclusive possession of the church building and corporate assets.
The justices' decision let stand an Oct. 21, 2008 appellate court ruling in New v. Kroeger that property and assets of congregations are held in trust for the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church and the diocese. The Fourth District Court of Appeal had unanimously reversed a San Diego County trial court ruling that California law permitted a vestry to amend parish bylaws in order to quit the Episcopal Church.
St. John's members who continued with the Episcopal Church were displaced. After meeting in a local community center for two-and-a-half years they returned to celebrate Easter in their church on April 12.
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego encompasses 50 congregations in San Diego, Imperial and Riverside counties, and in Yuma County in Arizona.
The Episcopal Church is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which comprises more than 80 million members in 44 regional and national churches in over 160 countries.