A long struggle over the governance of the Church of the Advent in Boston came to a conclusion recently with a unanimous decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to dismiss the case brought by members of Advent's corporation.

At issue was Advent's unusual system of governance, in which a 20-member corporation appointed members of the 11-member vestry. In other churches, vestry members are elected by members of the parish. The court's decision means that Advent's communicants control the affairs of their church, that the duly elected vestry there can begin the search for a rector, and that the church can be reclassified from mission to parish status by the bishop and Diocese of Massachusetts.

The conflict led to a lawsuit brought by members of the corporation against the remaining members of the corporation, Advent's vestry, the rector and the diocese.

The dispute came about in 1993 when a majority of the members of the corporation passed a vote of no confidence in the rector, the Rev. Andrew C. Mead. Following that vote, Fr. Mead asked the Bishop of Massachusetts, the Rt. Rev. David E. Johnson, to intercede under Canon 20. Following the failure of efforts at mediation, on Aug. 31, 1994, Fr. Mead asked Bishop Johnson to dissolve the rector's relationship with the parish under Canon 21. That led to the issuance of a godly judgment by the bishop of Dec. 7, 1994.

Bishop Johnson's godly judgment included his acceptance of the resignation of the rector, his order that the entire vestry resign and that a new vestry be elected by the communicants of the parish, rather than the corporation. The bishop also ordered the vestry to create new bylaws.

Shortly before Bishop Johnson issued the godly judgment, 13 members of the parish corporation voted to institute the lawsuit against the diocese, the bishop and others. The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, became diocesan bishop following the death of Bishop Johnson, and he asked Fr. Mead to postpone indefinitely the time of his departure.

In January 1996, 13 corporation members began an attempt to secede the parish from the diocese and the Episcopal Church. Bishop Shaw issued a further godly judgment, requesting that the parish elect new vestry members. Bishop Shaw also asked Fr. Mead to postpone indefinitely the time of his departure.

Communicants voted to request the diocese to reclassify Advent as a mission church under the bishop's supervision. Theys also petitioned the diocese to end Advent's corporation form of governance, which they said was "undemocratic and inconsistent" with the canons of the diocese and the national church.

The state supreme court upheld the defendants' claim that the Episcopal Church is hierarchical, that the dispute is one of internal discipline and government, and that the First Amendment prohibits the court from deciding the dispute.

Fr. Mead finally departed from the Boston ministry in 1996 and became rector of St. Thomas' Church, New York City. The Rev. Richard C. Martin has been interim priest-in-charge at Advent since then.

The decision "is clean and clear on the issue of the hierarchy and the canons of the church," Fr. Mead said.