Court Removes Defrocked Episcopal Priest As Rector On Petition of Diocese

A Pennsylvania trial court last week held that conservative defrocked Episcopal priest David Moyer no longer has any right to serve as rector of Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. The court similarly removed two vestry members who supported Moyer from their positions.  In In re The Church of the Good Shepherd Rosemont Pennsylvania Incorporated, (PA Com. Pl, Aug. 25, 2011), the court said:

On the sole question of whether or not the Diocese can ask this Court to force the respondents out of Good Shepherd, the answer is clear. Their eviction, literally and figuratively, is the will of the petitioning Standing Committee [the ecclesiastical authority of the Diocese] and Assisting Bishop.

Virtue Online has extensive background on the decision, which it calls "the final blow to the Anglo-Catholic rector [Moyer]," coming "after more than a decade of ecclesiastical infighting and lawsuits." Today's Philadelphia Inquirer also reported on the decision. (See prior related posting.) [Thanks to James Edward Maule via Religionlaw for the lead].