On Leaving Our Parish Home - Dave Ball
On Leaving Our Parish Home
By David M. Ball
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
March 27, 2012
On Sunday, March 25, the parish of St. David's Anglican Church, Peters Township, PA, met for the last time as the parish of St. David's. At that meeting, the parish affirmed the vestry's decision to leave our current parish home and move to a new facility. I would like to share some of that day because the Holy Spirit was with us, working among us.
The journey to this day has been long and well documented so I will only sketch the basics. In 2008, the majority of the then Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh split from the Episcopal Church to form the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, a Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). We did so knowing full well that the road ahead would require sacrifice, and it has.
Lawsuits, the trademark of TEC, followed and in 2010 the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County ruled that the property and buildings of 24 parishes, St. David's among them, were owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church. An appeal to the Court of Appeals was unsuccessful and the PA Supreme Court declined to hear the case. St. David's made several attempts to initiate negotiations regarding the property with the TEC Diocese to no avail. It became very apparent that we were paying a significant mortgage on a property that was not ours and that we had little chance of keeping. We realized that we had to leave the building we have occupied since 1954 and have twice expanded.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
By David M. Ball
Special to Virtueonline
www.virtueonline.org
March 27, 2012
On Sunday, March 25, the parish of St. David's Anglican Church, Peters Township, PA, met for the last time as the parish of St. David's. At that meeting, the parish affirmed the vestry's decision to leave our current parish home and move to a new facility. I would like to share some of that day because the Holy Spirit was with us, working among us.The journey to this day has been long and well documented so I will only sketch the basics. In 2008, the majority of the then Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh split from the Episcopal Church to form the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, a Diocese of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). We did so knowing full well that the road ahead would require sacrifice, and it has.
Lawsuits, the trademark of TEC, followed and in 2010 the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County ruled that the property and buildings of 24 parishes, St. David's among them, were owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church. An appeal to the Court of Appeals was unsuccessful and the PA Supreme Court declined to hear the case. St. David's made several attempts to initiate negotiations regarding the property with the TEC Diocese to no avail. It became very apparent that we were paying a significant mortgage on a property that was not ours and that we had little chance of keeping. We realized that we had to leave the building we have occupied since 1954 and have twice expanded.
Read the full story at www.VirtueOnline.org
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