Property Fights Looming As Conservative Episcopal Churches Leave the Fold

New legal fights over ownership of church property may lie ahead as two large and influential Episcopal parishes in Fairfax and Falls Church, Virginia voted yesterday to leave the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA) and affiliate with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, a branch of the Nigerian Anglican church led by conservative archbishop Peter J. Akinola. The action of these parishes, and five smaller ones elsewhere in Virginia, result from disagreements with ECUSA over its increasingly liberal policies, culminating in the 2003 ordination of an openly gay bishop. Today's New York Times reports that while both sides want to avoid legal battles, Bishop Peter James Lee of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia says that under church law, parish property is held in trust for the denomination and the diocese. He added: "As stewards of this historic trust, we fully intend to assert the church’s canonical and legal rights over these properties."