The Episcopal Church has asked to be made party to the lawsuit between Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh and the part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that has followed Bishop Duncan in the Anglican Church of North America.
Lionel Deimel, an Episcopalian in Pittsburgh, has a post up with the details of the development:
“An objection that the defendants have raised more than once in the lawsuit filed by Calvary Church against now-deposed bishop Robert Duncan and other (now former) leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is that Calvary had no right to sue without The Episcopal Church’s being a party to the suit. Well, Archbishop-in-Waiting Duncan seems about to get his wish. Papers were filed today in the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas on behalf of Bishop John C. Buchanan, Retired Bishop of West Missouri and parliamentarian of the House of Bishops. In a ‘petition to intervene,’ Buchanan, representing The Episcopal Church, asks the court to become a plaintiff in the case.”
Read Lionel’s full post here.
If you would like to see how our church is explaining its governance to the secular courts, have a look at this cogent filing. Update: Lionel has added analysis of the denomination’s complaint-in-intervention