Now that the California Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Episcopal Church, what sort of ramifications will the ruling have on the ongoing dispute between Provinces of the Anglican Communion? An article in US News and World Report argues that they will be significant.
Dan Gilgoff writes:
“In accepting the Episcopal Church’s argument for maintaining ownership of its property, says Kirkpatrick, author of The Episcopal Church in Crisis, the decision is likely to deter other breakaway parishes from suing for their property. ‘It’s very costly to go to court,’ he says, ‘and if the trend is not to recognize the authority of the local congregation, what’s the point?’
Experts on the Episcopal Church said the ruling would be a likely bellwether for similar legal skirmishes over property between the national church and local parishes in half a dozen other states. That’s what the Episcopal Church is hoping for. ‘The California Supreme Court’s decision was precedent-setting,’ said John R. Shiner, chancellor for the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles and the church’s lead counsel in the California litigation. ‘It clarified to a large degree what the rules will be going forward and will the basis for clarification elsewhere.'”
This doesn’t mean that people won’t still feel that they have to disassociate themselves from the Episcopal Church, it will just change how it happens:
“In the face of the California ruling, breakaway churches have vowed to continue working to launch an alternative Anglican denomination in North America, even if it means losing church property. “Parishes are not choosing to leave the Episcopal Church because of their estimation of the possibility of maintaining ownership of property but because of significant theological disagreements,” a spokesman for Bishop Robert Duncan, the leader of the conservative breakaway dioceses and parishes, said in an interview on Tuesday. “This decision doesn’t begin to change that.”
Read the full article here.