SAN DIEGO: Diocese files suit against three parishes over property
Episcopal News Service. June 20, 2007 [062007-04]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego filed property suits June 18 against three parishes to regain property.
The suits were filed in San Diego County Superior Court against St. Anne's Parish, Oceanside; Holy Trinity Parish, San Diego; and St. John's Parish, Fallbrook, according to a diocesan news release.
Leaders of the three parishes have said they have left the Episcopal Church but have continued to occupy church buildings, the release said.
"Last year, members of the above-mentioned parishes met in secret and voted to leave the Episcopal Church," the news release said, adding that San Diego Bishop James R. Mathes inhibited the clergy of these parishes, removing them from their priestly duties.
Episcopal Church parishes are not formed and dissolved at will, the release said, but are created or dissolved by diocesan convention. The filings ask the court to uphold the principle that the Episcopal Church is a hierarchical church and makes such decisions at that level and above.
"We have a fiduciary responsibility to care for all the assets of these congregations, including church records, historical documents and buildings," said Canon Howard Smith, spokesman for the diocese.
"The Episcopal Church resolutely believes in freedom of religion, and those who choose to practice their beliefs in another church should be free to do so," said diocesan Chancellor Charles H. Dick. "But they ought not be able to misappropriate the church records and other property that has been consecrated for the exclusive purpose of advancing the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church."
A suit filed last year by the diocese asked the court to determine the rightful leadership of St. John's, Fallbrook. The court named the vestry of the breakaway group as the congregation's leaders.
The June 18 lawsuit is similar to lawsuits filed in other dioceses, Smith said, naming the property the diocese seeks and asking for the ruling on the Episcopal Church's hierarchical status.
The Rev. Donald Kroeger, St. John's rector, said in a statement that his congregation "had hoped the diocese would respect the decision of the court and the biblical prohibitions about suing other believers, but apparently we were mistaken."
In a letter to the clergy of the diocese, Mathes said that when canon law is breached and "all efforts to remedy the violation are rebuffed, it is necessary to use the civil courts."
"In situations of conflict like this, there always is a temptation to place bad motives on the people with whom we are in conflict, but we must resist that temptation," he said. "All involved are faithful Christians, and I ask your prayers for our Diocese and all involved in these legal proceedings."