RICHMOND, VA. — The Virginia Supreme Court overturned a judge’s decision allowing breakaway Episcopal Church congregations to keep church property last Thursday, but the battle isn’t over.
The justices unanimously ruled that the 1867 statute on which the judge based his decision did not apply. They sent the case back to Fairfax County Circuit Court to determine ownership based on real-estate and contract law.
The ruling was a blow to nine northern Virginia congregations that split from the Episcopal Church in a disagreement over acceptance of gays, the ordination of women and other theological issues. They aligned with the more conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a mission of the Church of Nigeria.
The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia said it was gratified by the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“This decision brings us one important step closer to returning loyal Episcopalians, who have been extraordinarily faithful in disheartening and difficult circumstances, to their church homes,” said the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of Virginia. “We are extremely grateful for this opportunity to correct a grievous harm.”
The chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, which consists of the breakaway congregations, said he was disappointed with the decision but confident about the district’s remaining legal arguments.
“The court’s ruling simply involved one of our statutory defenses, and these properties are titled in the name of the congregations’ trustees, not in the name of the Diocese or the Episcopal Church,” said district chairman Jim Oakes.
The district includes two prominent congregations that trace their histories to George Washington — Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church, where Washington served in the vestry. The properties at issue in the dispute are worth an estimated $30 million to $40 million.
The case centered on a 143-year-old law unique to Virginia that says when a division occurs within a denomination, a congregation can vote to decide with which branch it wishes to affiliate.
The justices rejected the Episcopal Church’s claim that a division can occur only with approval of the denomination. However, the court said the Convocation of Anglicans in North America — a mission of the Church of Nigeria — is not a “branch” of the Episcopal Church, despite its congregations’ historical ties to the denomination.
The statute “requires that each branch proceed from the same polity, and not merely a shared tradition of faith,” Justice Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. wrote.
The Episcopal Church also appealed Fairfax Circuit Judge Randy Bellows’ ruling that the statute is constitutional. The Supreme Court’s ruling that the law did not apply in this case meant it did not have to decide the constitutional question.