Lawyers expect the last elements of a property lawsuit that pitted Virginia’s Episcopal Church against an alliance of conservative breakaway congregations to be wrapped up by the end of the year, closing a chapter in one of the most high-profile religious rifts in recent history.
The groups, which left the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia in late 2006, sued the diocese in Fairfax County Circuit Court to keep the nine church properties they occupied before the split.
After a series of rulings in the congregations’ favor, only three properties now remain in question, including a historic chapel and wing of The Falls Church in Falls Church.
“What’s left are some narrow opinions on specific pieces,” said Henry D.W. Burt, secretary of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, who expected to see an opinion from Judge Randy Bellows “in the next few weeks.”
The original rift drew national attention as the churches voted en masse to leave their parent organization after years of growing theological disagreement. They objected, in particular, to the Episcopal Church’s ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire in 2004.
At the center of the legal dispute is a Civil-War era Virginia law known as “the Division Statute” that governs ownership of property during religious schisms. Bellows has ruled that the statute is not only constitutional, but also applies in the case.
The decisions left the Episcopal Diocese with dwindling chances for an outcome in its favor. Burt said the diocese is planning an appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court, partly to challenge the constitutionality of the division statute.
In a separate case, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ordered the From the Heart Church Ministries to return nearly $40 million in real estate to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which From the Heart Church split from in 1999.
Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an umbrella group for the dissident congregations, said he hopes to find a way to restore relations with their former church.
“We’re not trying to take anything away from anybody … we just want the right to continue to worship in the buildings that our parishioners bought and paid for,” he said.
