The beat goes on on the legal front in California where today brought news of two significant property transactions.
In Glendale, which is in the Diocese of Los Angeles:
The state Fourth District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is the legal owner of the St. Luke’s of the Mountains Church property on Foothill Boulevard, throwing the fate of the Anglican congregation there into deep uncertainty.
In issuing the ruling Tuesday, the court agreed that the Episcopal Diocese had the right to restore the church to its authority after the current congregation severed ties over theological differences.
And in Petaluma, in the Diocese of Northern California:
A Petaluma congregation that split from the Episcopal Church over the issue of gay ordination but retained a 118-year-old church building has agreed to return the property to the church, ending a nearly three-year stalemate.
Under terms of a settlement, St. John’s Anglican Church will move out of the building at 5th and C streets by July 1 and give up claim to about $450,000 in endowments.
In exchange, its leader, the Rev. David Miller, will receive a greater share of ownership of his family’s Petaluma house, which was purchased in part with church money.