Episcopal Diocese of San Diego Applauds Court Decision Against St. John's Fallbrook
For a diocese that's been hemorraging money, priests, churches, and parishioners for several years in a row now, we can grant them a little gloating here. After all, they spent all that perfectly good MDG money pursuing this. To the victor goes the spoils.
Excerpted from a press release on the EDSD.org site. Read the whole thing.
This decision recognized that members of the board of directors as a matter of canon law need to be members of the vestry. It affirmed that this is an internal dispute within an Episcopal church, and affirmed the bishop’s decision regarding eligibility to be a director of the parish corporation.
“The decision recognizes the authority of the church to establish its own rules of governance,” said Chancellor Charles Dick, “and says the courts are obliged to respect the decisions of the Church with regard to its own structure.”
“I am delighted that the court has ruled that when there’s a disagreement as to the eligibility of a person to serve on the vestry of a parish, the bishop is the final arbiter of the question. When the bishop has decided who is eligible to serve, the courts are going to respect that and not second guess it.”
“The dissidents have attempted to say that if they wish, they can change the bylaws of a parish corporation and disavow any obligation to obey the rules of the Episcopal Church. This ruling said, ‘No, when you make a pledge to be bound by the canons of the Episcopal Church, you can’t just revoke that pledge because you don’t like what’s going on in the Episcopal Church.’”
The Episcopal Church Welcomes You....forever.
If there were any congregations or church plants out there remotely interested in joining the Episcopal church right now, I'd take this opportunity to warn their corporate boards to read the fine print about "till death do you part" before they walk the aisle and trade vows.
You and I know that just ain't happening right now...anywhere. Quite the contrary.
(hmm, If only that church took a softer position on corporate divorce and a stronger position on actual divorce... I digress.)
