Anglicans who departed the Episcopal Church (TEC) in 2008 are the legally recognized Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and control its corporation, according to a ruling issued this morning by the Texas Supreme Court. As a result, Anglicans will likely continue to hold tens of millions in real estate and other ministry assets.
“We are grateful for the Court’s hard work on this decision and for the clarity with which it was rendered,” read a statement issued by the diocese. “Above all, we thank God for his eternal provision and protection for his Church and the people he has called to serve him.”
In THE EPISCOPAL DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH v. THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Justice Eva M. Guzman writing for the court finds that the withdrawing (Anglican) faction of the splintered Episcopal diocese is the rightful Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth:
“Applying neutral principles to the undisputed facts, we hold that (1) resolution of this property dispute does not require consideration of an ecclesiastical question, (2) under the governing documents, the withdrawing faction is the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, and (3) the trial court properly granted summary judgment in the withdrawing faction’s favor. We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ contrary judgment”.
The 30-page unanimous opinion from Texas’ top judicial body reinstates a trial court ruling that had been earlier overturned by an appeals court. The ruling winds down litigation between the departing diocese and the Episcopal Church that was set in motion more than a decade ago after the national church filed suit against departing Anglicans. Lawyers for the Episcopal Church maintained that elected officers of the diocesan leadership were no longer the Episcopal diocese and that dioceses hold property in trust for the national church under the denomination’s 1970s-era Dennis Canon.
Today’s court decision focused narrowly on Texas corporate law, and if the majority faction controls the legal corporation. Justices zeroed in on Texas’ understanding of trusts, finding that only express trusts have legal weight. Episcopal Church attorneys had argued that based on diocesan affiliation with the denomination, Episcopalians in Fort Worth entered into an implied trust holding property for the denomination.
Approximately 80 percent of diocesan membership remained within parishes that separated from the Episcopal denomination. A smaller “renewing” Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth was reconstituted for those parishes that remained affiliated with the national church. Data from 2018, the most recent reporting year, lists 3,804 members in the reconstituted Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, down from 17,457 members (-78.2%) in 2008, the year of the split. Data provided by the Episcopal Church Office of the General Convention reports that not only membership, but also attendance, marriages and baptisms have been significantly reduced in recent years.
“Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry joins me in acknowledging our disappointment and urging all of us to be gentle with one another during this trying time, with the important goal of continuing our worship of God and our ministries in this diocese in as uninterrupted manner as possible,” wrote the Rt. Rev. Scott Mayer, provisional bishop of Fort Worth in a letter to the Episcopal Church-affiliated diocese. “Now I, other diocesan leaders, and our legal team have to make decisions about our next steps.”
The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth became a founding jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and is the second largest diocese by membership. The diocese, which holds to an Anglo-Catholic form of churchmanship, disagreed with the direction of the Episcopal Church in matters of scriptural authority and human sexual expression.
Episcopalians and departing Anglicans have been in legal conflict in several parts of the United States as churches and five separate dioceses disaffiliated with the denomination in the mid-2000s onward. A court case involving the denomination and the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina is ongoing, as churches await a district court ruling to interpret five separate opinions handed down nearly three years ago by the state Supreme Court.
Written request for comment from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Curry had not yet been returned as of the time of publication. This report will be updated over the Memorial Day weekend as comments are made available.
Comment by Reynolds on May 22, 2020 at 3:36 pm
The floodgates have opened in Texas. I know many Presbyterian churches that paid out millions to leave. Now all churches can leave without paying a dime
Comment by Steve on May 22, 2020 at 5:21 pm
I’m glad to see a congregation persist and win. Seems to me correct way to transfer real property is by recorded deed, not by attempting to impose a trust by a vote at a convention, as was done with the Dennis Canon in the 1970s. I don’t think this means all congregations can leave with their property; the decisions have been inconsistent up to this point, and expect to see more of that in the future. It has to help if a congregation is long standing, vibrant and a good steward.
Comment by David on May 22, 2020 at 6:48 pm
The lasting legacy of Katherine Jefforts Schiori will not be the at times her questionable orthodoxy that truthfully caused one to question if TEC had a legitimately, ordained Presiding Bishop. It will be the ungodly way she decided to handle the schism with naked, power plays in court to retain property out of unadulterated spite, and where endowments were concerned, unadulterated greed, that was reminiscent of the Renaissance popes.
The PCUSA and the proposed division of the UMC says more about the leadership of those two denominations and there commitment to demonstrating Christ to the world in midst of division than the continuing farce that TEC leadership has demonstrated since that woman was put in charge. The best thing Curry could have done was to have changed course, but apparently he didn’t.
Comment by diaphone64 on May 22, 2020 at 6:57 pm
Could be prescient for UMC split. Departing traditional congregations in Texas will surely be the true UMC and entitled to all property
Comment by diaphone64 on May 22, 2020 at 6:58 pm
…and be the majority.
Comment by ERIC J LEFEVRE on May 23, 2020 at 11:59 pm
Careful here, the legal facts between the situation in the UMC and the PCUSA / TEC are completely and totally different. The trust clause has been a part of the UMC and all of its predecessor bodies since the churches were founded in the 18th century. The model constitution drafted by Wesley himself contained a trust clause. Because of that, every church that enters into a relationship with the UMC does so with the explicit knowledge that the UMC will own the church property.
The situation with the PCUSA could not be more different, especially for former PCUS churches. When the PCUS merged with the PCUSA, the PCUS general assembly unilaterally declared that all congregational property was held in trust by the denomination. The assembly then gave each congregation a ridiculously short amount of time (3 weeks if memory serves) to vote the trust clause down and declared that a failure to hold a vote constituted assent. The problem was that churches held voters meetings annually or quarterly and were given no time to organize or announce special voters sessions. The result was that very few congregations were able to vote against the trust clause.
The situation with the episcopal church I believe is similar, but i am much less familiar with the historical details. My understanding was that the trust clause changes were just a shady and underhanded as the PCUSA.
Comment by Thomas Rightmyer on May 22, 2020 at 7:53 pm
As I read the Texas Supreme Court judgment the court rejected the Episcopal Church’s assertion that the clergy and lay delegates to diocesan convention who voted in 2007 and 2008 to reject the authority of General Convention by that action left the Episcopal Church.
Comment by John W. Worsham on May 23, 2020 at 7:16 am
Even though I am no longer a member, I will always be interested in a projected UMC split
and how the property issues will play out.
Comment by David Gingrich on May 23, 2020 at 7:56 am
To this ex-UMC member, it sure looks like the UMC traditionalists made a terrible deal.
Comment by Reynolds on May 23, 2020 at 12:20 pm
What is the terrible deal. When I lived in Texas my church paid 1.3 million to leave PCUSA that was a terrible deal. This now makes it easier for all churches to go their separate ways and demolishes any power a bishop has or minister to stop a congregation to leave to form a more Orthodox Church. The only other state that I am aware of is Minnesota has sided with local congregations against the trust clause
Comment by walt on May 23, 2020 at 1:24 pm
The change is our historical Christian based culture began with Liberal Democrats and Progressive News Media embracing homosexuality as a civil right. This, even though historically homosexuality was closeted because of its unclean practices which no Christians would dispute.
This decline and decay of decency and morals is more evidence of how even good-intentioned people can be deceived.