An Orderly Account

About the Name

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent The-oph’ilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed. -- Luke 1:1-4

Relax, I know I’m not writing the New Testament here, but I will try to follow a few things closely. — Dick Sandlin

Syndicate

Statistics

This page has been viewed 369118 times

How This Site Works

Three columns work together to present a lot of information. The center column initially contains recent posts starting with the newest. There are five on each page: see the page numbers near the bottom of the column. Each post is a member of a Category. The left column presents categories so that you can click on one and see the posts in that category alone in the center column. The titles of the forty most recent posts are listed below the categories so that you can quickly select one to view. Please click on the Comments tag below any post to enter a comment about it. The right column contains more persistent Features. Wherever you are in the site, you can return to the home page by clicking on the top banner. The image in the top banner is looking toward the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Features

Episcopal Bishop Orders No-compete Clause

In a recent letter to the House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church (TEC), the Presiding Bishop (PB) of TEC wrote:

I will continue to uphold two basic principles in the work some of us face in dealing with former Episcopalians who claim rights to church property or assets. Our participation in God’s mission as leaders and stewards of The Episcopal Church means that we expect a reasonable and fair financial arrangement in any property settlement, and that we do not make settlements that encourage religious bodies who seek to replace The Episcopal Church.

Pragmatically, the latter means property settlements need to include a clause that forbids, for a period of at least five years, the presence of bishops on the property who are not members of this House, unless they are invited by the diocesan bishop for purposes which do not subvert mission and ministry in the name of this Church.

For a full text of the letter, see Anglican Mainstream, a reasserter blog that goes back to 2006.

The way that property ownership works in TEC, with a few exceptions for those who are “grandfathered in”, is that the local Parish buys the property, builds the church and any other buildings, pays all expenses related to it, and then hands over the deed to the local Diocesan Bishop. The property then belongs to the Diocese and it is administered by the Bishop. The Diocese is the primary unit within the Anglican Communion (AC) of which TEC is a member Province.

If you read the post below, titled “The Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church, and ACNA”, you will see that many Parishes and some Dioceses are seceeding from TEC to join what many hope will become an alternate Province in North America because of problems within TEC.

Many Bishops within Dioceses that are still in TEC have permitted some of their withdrawing Parishes to take their property with them. Even though the Parishes have paid all the expenses for the property, it is still a benevolent (some would say Christian) act for the Bishops to relinquish their legal right to the land and the church buildings thereon. Some Bishops have sold the property back to the Parishes for a percentage of its value as real estate.

The PB, who is a “presider”, not a Cardinal Archbishop, has now responded to this benevolence with an edict to the Bishops of TEC that full value must be received for such property and it should not be sold to those who have left TEC for reasons of conscience. In an attempt to establish a “no-compete” clause, she has ordered an inclusion of words for those contracts that would attempt to prevent Bishops from other parts of the Anglican Communion from entering the property for five years. Many have suggested that freedom of religion in the USA would make such clauses impossible to enforce.

For a lively discussion of this issue, check out the Stand Firm blog and then come back here to leave a comment.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 08/27 at 09:00 PM