Diocese of Dallas Passes Resolution Asking for Dollar Amount, Budget Items from which funds are taken and 2009 Litigation costs
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
12/15/2008
Inquiring Episcopal minds want to know.
Delegates to the recent 113th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas want some answers from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori about how much money is being spent on litigation, the source for those funds and how much the National Church will spend in 2009.
And they won't take no for an answer.
Delegates voted overwhelmingly for full disclosure from the National Church.
They requested that the office of the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church provide each diocese of The Episcopal Church with the following information:
* The dollar amount spent by TEC on litigation against dioceses, parishes, groups of churches and individuals since General Convention 2006;
* A list of the church accounts and/or budget items from which these funds were taken;
* The proposed amount of money for litigation to be presented to the 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
Delegates then requested that the Presiding Bishop's response (or lack thereof) be reported to the clergy and people of the Diocese of Dallas prior to General Convention 2009.
The question is: "Will Jefferts Schori or her attorney David Booth Beers give the diocese the information they request?"
Based on previous history, the answer is probably not.
In July of 2007, four retired Episcopal bishops issued a challenge to Jefferts Schori asking where church leaders were finding the funds to mount simultaneous lawsuits against fleeing conservative congregations.
In an open letter, dated July 14, to the church's 40-member Executive Council, the bishops called the lawsuits "an outrageous example of exacerbating rather than reconciling the divisions in this church."
"We, in the name of the living God, declare that by litigation, you may win possession of some buildings and land, but you will never get the people back by the most potent litigation that money can buy," the bishops wrote. "The Episcopal Church has the capacity to bankrupt and destroy all of the congregations and dioceses that dare to meet the Episcopal Church in court. But that will not get the people back."
The letter originated with retired Texas Bishop Maurice Benitez. Other signatories were retired South Carolina Bishop C. FitzSimons Allison, retired Eau Claire, WI, Bishop William Wantland and retired West Tennessee Bishop Alex Dickson.
The letter asked for a public report on how much money the church has spent in recent years on court costs and attorneys' fees and where in the church budget these costs are listed.
"An open and transparent disclosure is crucially important to avoid speculation, rumors and consequent distrust of the Episcopal Church," the letter concluded.
In March of 2007, the Executive Council tapped its investment income an extra 0.5 percent and borrowed $2.3 million from its short-term reserves to stave off a $3.8 million 2007 budget deficit, according to Episcopal News Service.
"If they don't have enough money in the program budget, where are they getting the money for this litigation?" Bishop Allison asked in an interview. Bishop Benitez had 30 responses to the letter, "some of which are very ugly."
The bishops also asked whether trust funds are being raided to fund the lawsuits and how much the Boston-based law firm of Goodwin Procter is being paid for representing the church. The church's chancellor, David Booth Beers, is a partner at the firm's D.C. office.
At that time, Church spokesman Robert Williams said the church's 2007 budget included at least $800,000 for lawsuits with about $360,000 more available, if needed. In many cases, he added, the dioceses have initiated the lawsuits and the denomination is contributing support.
He didn't expect an official response to the bishops' letter until October 2008, when the Executive Council was next slated to meet in Dearborn, Mich. None was forthcoming
More than 1,000 Episcopalians are leaving The Episcopal Church each week. Four dioceses have already departed the National Church, blaming the direction the church is taking away from the authority of Scripture and the 2003 consecration of the openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson.
Across the country, a number of congregations in several dioceses are fighting in the courts to hold onto their property, provoking legal responses from the denomination, which argues that it alone holds title to church properties and assets.
At its convention, the Diocese of Dallas also passed resolutions expressing its gratitude to Bishop Stanton and Bishop Lambert for voting " 'No' to the deposition of the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, at the Fall 2008 House of Bishops meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. "We are grateful for their faithful exercise of Episcopal ministry in this matter and we encourage them to continue to witness for truth and fidelity in our Diocese and The Episcopal Church, and convey our support and encouragement to Bishop Duncan during this difficult time."
Delegates also requested that the Episcopal Church and all Dioceses, parishes and bishops adopt a policy of negotiation and/or mediation with regard to disputes over property and, in accordance with the Dar es Salaam Primate's Communiqué, cease and desist from engaging in lawsuits with fellow Christians.
END
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