The disputed call of the Rev. Samuel Edwards to be rector of Christ Church in Accokeek, Md., will go all the way to the Supreme Court, according to the chancellor for the diocese.

JoAnn E. MacBeth, chancellor and a member of the Washington, D.C., law firm Crowell and Moring, was present -- along with the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon, bishop pro tempore of Washington -- at a vestry meeting on the evening of Nov. 28. Ms. MacBeth's comment was made during discussion of a vestry proposal to provide Fr. Edwards with "relief payments" equal to his salary until the dispute is resolved.

The meeting took place the day after U.S. District Court Judge Peter J. Messite's modified his original order prohibiting Fr. Edwards from holding religious services on or near the grounds of the historic church [TLC, Nov. 18].

On Nov. 30 Fr. Edwards and the vestry filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the fourth circuit based in Richmond. The appeals court denied an emergency stay of Judge Messite' ruling; however, it will expedite the appeal.

Even with an expedited hearing, Ms. MacBeth told the vestry that the appeal process could last until next June. Recently the diocese announced that out-of-pocket legal costs arising from the case filed by Bishop Dixon amounted to $440,000. Diocesan trust funds may be used to cover a portion of that cost.

An appeal all the way to the Supreme Court would probably bring the legal cost to the diocese close to $2 million. The lawyer for Fr. Edwards and the vestry, Charles Nalls, has said previously on several occasions that his work is pro bono.