Ed. Note: Please find below two news reports, and a pastoral letter from Archbishop Robert Duncan, conveying some sad news for the (ex-Episcopal) Diocese of Pittsburgh and indeed for the whole of the new province, the Anglican Church in North America. This particular property dispute, involving the majority portion of the Diocese of Pittsburgh that separated from TEC in 2008, pivoted significantly on a 2005 stipulated court order. It gives us no pleasure to find that we were right to worry from the start that the wording of that order was insufficient to protect the interests of conservative future realigners in the way some of them evidently thought it would. It is important to note, though, that the decision reported here affects only diocesan property, not parish property. An appeal is being considered.
http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2009/10/7/judge-favors-tec-diocese-in-pittsburgh-property-case
Judge Favors TEC Diocese in Pittsburgh Property Case
Posted on: October 7, 2009
A county judge has ordered the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican) to surrender diocesan property and assets to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
Calvary Church, Pittsburgh, filed the lawsuit against the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan, then the Episcopal Church’s Bishop of Pittsburgh, and the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in Oc tober 2003.
Pittsburgh’s diocesan convention voted in 2008 to leave the Episcopal Church and join the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina. The Episcopal Church has reconstituted the diocese, which consists of approximately 40 percent of its previous membership.
Judge Joseph M. James of the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County ruled on Oct. 6 that a court-approved agreement from 2005 requires that property remain with a diocese of the Episcopal Church.
“Regardless of what name defendants now call themselves, they are not the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America,” the judge wrote.
“The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America did not cease to exist when the defendants chose to withdraw,” the judge added. “The defendants could not extinguish an entity that was created and recognized by the intervenors.”
The judge’s order does not include buildings among congregations that followed Bishop Duncan out of the Episcopal Church.
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http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_115375_ENG_HTM.htm
PITTSBURGH: Judge says diocesan property belongs to the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Pittsburgh
By Mary Frances Schjonberg, October 06, 2009
[Episcopal News Service] A judge ruled October 6 that the organization headed by former Bishop Robert Duncan that left the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Pittsburgh in 2008 cannot continue to hold any diocesan assets.
On October 4, 2008 a majority of the delegates to the diocese's 143rd annual convention voted to approve a resolution by which the diocese purported to leave the Episcopal Church. The leaders of the diocese who departed have said that they remain in charge of an entity they call the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican) that is now part of the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. And they say that in that capacity they control all the assets that were held by the diocese when they left.
The court, however, ruled that all diocesan assets must be held by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that is recognized by the Episcopal Church.
The suit arose out of a 2003 complaint by Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh after a special diocesan convention passed a resolution stating that all property in the diocese, which under Episcopal Church canons is held in trust by the diocese for the entire church, instead belonged to individual congregations or the diocese itself.
The proceedings in the suit led to an October 2005 stipulated court order in which Duncan and the other then-leaders of the diocese agreed that the diocese would continue to hold or administer property "regardless of whether some or even a majority of the parishes in the Diocese might decide not to remain in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America."
That order defined "diocese" as the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.
In its October 6 opinion Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph M. James explained that "regardless of what name the defendants now call themselves, they are not the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America." He ruled that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh "did not cease to exist" because it was created by the Episcopal Church and the church now recognizes that those Episcopalians who did not follow Duncan now make up the Episcopal Church's continuing diocese.
James said that the facts that those Episcopalians who did not follow Duncan elected a "subsequent board of governance and appoint[ed] a successor to Bishop Duncan" and that those actions were recognized by the Episcopal Church "is further evidence that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America never ceased to exist."
The Rev. Dr. James Simons, president of the diocesan Standing Committee, the ecclesiastical authority of the diocese, said that "this ruling supports our position all along that an agreement is an agreement, especially when entered in good faith and in a court of law."
"We must now focus on reconciliation and welcoming back anyone who wants to return to our Episcopal Diocese," said Simons. "We took this action to protect property that was entrusted to the Episcopal Church over generations. As stewards of that property, it was our gospel and moral responsibility to do so. It is also our responsibility to help restore relationships as we can."
When James' opinion was announced to the Episcopal Church's Executive Council meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, the members burst into applause.
The property held by or administered by the Pittsburgh diocese has been overseen by a "special master" appointed by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas two days before Duncan's removal as a bishop of the Episcopal Church.
On October 6, James ordered all the parties in the lawsuit to meet with the special master, Pittsburgh attorney Stanley E. Levine and the Campbell & Levine law firm, within 30 days and report to the court within 20 days of that meeting with a report identifying the property that is involved.
James said he would then set up a process for "the orderly transition of possession, custody and control over said property," adding that he could continue to hold authority over the enforcement of the October 2005 order and the current one.
-- The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal News Service national correspondent.
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http://www.pitanglican.org/news/local/duncanpastoralletter100709
Archbishop Duncan Issues Pastoral Letter
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Archbishop Robert Duncan released the following pastoral letter to the clergy and people of the Diocese, in response to yesterday's ruling in the Calvary lawsuit (also available in PDF):
7th October, A.D. 2009
A pastoral letter to be read in all the churches on Sunday, October 11th, A.D. 2009 and in Saturday services preceding.
TO ALL THE CLERGY AND PEOPLE:
Beloved in the Lord,
We lost. In human terms we lost. Bishop and Standing Committee, together with Board of Trustees, thought we understood the document that was signed on our behalf in 2005 that ended the first phase of the Calvary lawsuit. But yesterday, the judge found against us on the basis of that document.
The team that has provided extraordinary legal counsel to us, and to others in similar cases across the country, has issued the following statement: "We believe the opinion and order is contrary to applicable law, disregards the agreed assumption of val id withdrawal by the Diocese from TEC, violates the assurances given us that the issue of the 'true diocese' was not part of this proceeding and denies us due process of law." Accordingly we reserve all of our rights to appeal.
We will take a time for further counsel and prayer, seeking God's guidance on whether to file an appeal. After that, we will, of course, fully comply with the court's order to facilitate an orderly transfer of DIOCESAN assets to the Episcopal Church Diocese. We have mostly lived without benefit of these assets since January. We have demonstrated that we can live without them. It will be sad not to have the resources left by previous generations to draw on, but God will be faithful. Two hundred and fifty years ago the first Anglicans at Fort Pitt had nothing. One hundred and forty five years ago the Anglicans who first organized our diocese had nothing. God was faithful to them. He will be faithful to us.
The court's decision has nothing to do with PARISH property, including the funds held in trust for you. The stipulation of 2005 spelled out a mediated process for parishes wishing to leave the "diocese." Your bishop, your standing committee, your diocesan council and your board of trustees will all work with your parish leadership toward this end. We invite the leadership of the Episcopal Church Diocese into working with us for the good of all congregations, both Episcopal Church and Anglican Church congregations.
The gospel for this Sunday is Mark 10:17-31, the rich young man. In the passage Jesus promises that those who are willing to leave everything to follow him "will receive back a hundredfold." Jesus is speaking to us and to our situation. Now is the moment we are called to trust Him at His word. I am willing. Your leadership is willing. Are you?
Our future is so bright in the Anglican Church in North America: Converted individuals, in multiplying congregations, fueled by the Holy Spirit. Do not despair. "He who has called you is faithful, and He will do it." (I Thessalonians 5:24)
On Friday night November 6th I invite as many of you as can to join together, physically or by internet or in spirit, in St. Stephen's Church in Sewickley (beginning at 6 p.m.) to thank God for his goodness to us, to offer up the immense transition of this last year, and to celebrate the prospect of our life in our new Anglican Province. The best is still ahead. Our God reigns.
Faithfully in Christ,
Bishop of Pittsburgh
Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America
