By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.VirtueOnline.org
5/22/2009
There has been a congregation in place since 1856. The current and architecturally unique church building has firmly stood since 1891.
St. John's Church withstood the shock waves of the 1906 Great Earthquake, which decimated San Francisco only a few miles to the south. What the congregation could not withstand was the theological shock waves sent out by General Convention 2003. It not only rent the fabric of the Anglican Communion, but also tore St. John's congregation asunder. This resulted in two congregations - St. John's Anglican Church and St. John's Episcopal Church - both seeking claim and title to the same historic Sonoma County landmark.
For nearly three years, a brutalizing legal battle raged over the ownership of St. John's Church. Now it seems a court-mandated settlement has been mitigated in the favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. As a result, the case will not go to trial.
It took a court order by California Superior Court Judge Gary Nadler to get both parties to the bargaining table rather than hammering out a legal ruling in his courtroom. It is reported that private negations between the attorneys for both the Northern California diocese and St. John's Anglican parish has resulted in an agreed upon settlement that returns the century-plus old structure back into the hands of the Episcopal diocese and the on-going St. John's Episcopal congregation.
Had this early mediation failed, all litigants would have gone face-to-face with Sonoma County Superior Court Settlement Conference Panelists Charles de la Forest and Michael Voorhees on May 27. However, docket number SCV-242282 has been permanently cancelled in favor of the privately negotiated resolution.
The first word of the settlement came Wednesday in a brief release by the Diocese of Northern California which in part stated: "The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California has announced a settlement agreement with a group calling itself 'St. John's Anglican' church ... The agreement follows peaceful and respectful settlement discussions."
"This has been two years in the making," explained Kari Lopez, the new director of communications for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. "The church [St. John's] has been in the hands of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California for over 100 years. A group called 'St. John's Anglican' took ownership of the building when they separated from The Episcopal Church. The Diocese filed a lawsuit to reclaim the building."
In December 2006, following the actions of the 2003 and 2006 General Conventions, ultimately resulting in the consecration of V. Gene Robinson to the episcopate and the elevation of Katharine Jefferts Schori as primate, a majority of St. John's parishioners voted to sever all ties with the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California -- then under the leadership of Bishop Jerry Lamb -- and The Episcopal Church and spiritually attach to the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. The church is also a member of the American Anglican Council (AAC) and the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FOCA). The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California and St. John's Episcopal Church filed a 91-page lawsuit against St. John's Anglican Church on Feb. 1, 2007.
Ms. Lopez said she was pleased that the litigation was equitably settled in negotiations and did not have to go to court for a resolution to the dispute over property ownership thus saving the Diocese money which could be used for the Diocese's overall mission.
Had the case eventually gone to court, the opening gavel would have sounded on September 18.
The communications director felt that perhaps January's unanimous California Supreme Court decision helped to tip the negations in favor of the Diocese. That decision declared that three other Anglican congregations, who disassociated themselves from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and TEC, did not have a legal claim to their properties and had to return their buildings to the original congregation. This decision set a clear precedent The Anglican congregations that lost their bid to keep their properties are: St. David's, North Hollywood; St. James, Newport Beach; and All Saints, Long Beach.
"A settlement of this kind with The Episcopal Church is rare," explained The Rev. Lu T. Nguyen, "especially when The Episcopal Church uses the 'scorched earth' method of litigation."
St. John's is one of more than 100 individual parishes nationwide, which have severed ties with the racially liberal-minded Episcopal Church, seeking to align with a primatial headship more in keeping with classic Anglican traditions, ethos, and piety.
Rather than bless the separating congregations with "God's speed", The Episcopal Church, with its scorched earth -- winner-take-all and leave nothing standing -- litigation tactics has gone out of its way to retaliate using every legal trick in the book. Fleeing congregations have been tied into logistical knots usually resulting in expensive court battles and thrashing litigation. In the end, no matter who the "winner" is, all parties are left bruised and bleeding.
Fr. Nguyen is St. John's' Anglican Church's canonical and legal representative. However, he said that he is not at liberty to discuss the settlement any further and that St. John's Episcopal church would issue its own press release at a later date.
"I am limited by what I can say by my client [St. John's Anglican Church]," the lawyer-priest said.
Friday, VOL was told by Michael Macintosh at St. John's Anglican Church, ""We haven't issued a press release yet." He said that one would be forth coming next week, at which time he would make sure VOL has a copy.
St. John's Anglican 250-member congregation is to be ousted from the property nestled on the corner of Fifth and C streets by July 1 when it will revert back to the St. John's Episcopal congregation which has been meeting at Elim Lutheran Church since the congregational separation.
At this time no further details are available about the terms of the settlement documents. Both sides are remaining quiet about the details.
---Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline
2 comments:
This is a such a sterile description of the reality that is. For a start realize that the "2nd congregation" was, except for a few folks, sent in by ECUSA.
People of faith will all have ECUSA in their rear view mirror only.
The people leaving the building will do so with the grace that they have lived. St. John's Anglican Church is without a building, but it is alive and can give good accounting of itself, corporately and individually. That may be a hard task on the ultimate day for "the winners."
Jeannette, I don't think that many in pecusa think about eternal matters. I recall a conversation I had with a pecusa priest a few years ago. She pointed out with a smile on her face that I had to realize what a hit I'd take on my pension if I left pecusa, as if that's the most important consideration.
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