Opening In VA Episcopal Church Case Published; More Defections Loom

As previously reported, a trial in Fairfax, Virginia is underway to determine the ownership of property housing eleven Virginia churches that have broken from the Episcopal Church USA to join a more conservative parent group, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. At the heart of the trial is Virginia's "division statute" enacted at the time of the Civil War to deal with church splits over slavery. Virtue Online yesterday posted the full text of the opening statement at trial made by attorney Steffen Johnson on behalf of the breakaway congregations. He summarized his position as follows:

[T]he General Assembly enacted the division statute to ensure that a neutral principle, majority rule, would govern situations when a group of congregations divided from their former denomination and formed a new branch of the church. That happened in the 19th century and it continues to happen today. What is perhaps unique about this case is that the division has played out at the international level of the church as well, but it is no less a division within the meaning of the statute. Indeed, the international element of this dispute merely confirms the magnitude of the division...

Meanwhile last Saturday, the Episcopal Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas became the fourth Episcopal diocese to begin the process of leaving the Episcopal Church USA in order to affiliate with a more conservative Anglican province. Tuesday's Christian Post reports that the first of two required votes were taken at the diocese's annual convention.