The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has been dealt a major setback in its legal battle to retain church properties across Northern Virginia after about a dozen conservative congregations seceded a year ago.
Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows ruled Thursday night that a century-and-a-half-old state law governing the ownership of church lands during religious schisms, called the “division statute,” applies in the suit.
The diocese, which is seeking to reclaim eight properties estimated in value as high as $40 million, including the Falls Church in Falls Church and Truro Church in Fairfax, had argued against applying the code.
The ruling sets a course for the lawsuit widely seen as favoring the side of the dissident church groups, which voted to leave the diocese in late 2006 after decades of growing disagreement over doctrine. The leadership of the orthodox local congregations was especially rankled by the Episcopal Church’s 2004 decision to ordain a gay bishop in New Hampshire.
Now these churches are affiliated with a Nigerian archbishop and his church’s Americanwing, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, or CANA.
“We would say [the ruling] is a step forward for us,” said Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, a subset of CANA.
The judge has yet to rule on the constitutionality of the “division statute,” which the diocese also is disputing, as well as on the larger question of which side is entitled to the properties.
“This fall the court will consider our property claims against those who have left the Episcopal Church and yet continue to occupy Episcopal Church property while loyal Episcopalians are forced to worship elsewhere,” the diocese said Friday. “That is simply wrong.”
Though 11 congregations are involved in the suit, only eight own property the diocese is seeking to reclaim.
“The people in the CANA congregations were free to leave, but they cannot take Episcopal property with them,” the diocese said.
