In Pittsburgh, eight years of property litigation involving the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh ended, but most parishes that broke from the Episcopal Church still face negotiations over their buildings.

PITTSBURGH

The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, which had argued that it owned the property, decided it would not appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Anglican Archbishop Robert Duncan turned over $20 million in centrally held assets, but individual parish properties remain the main object of dispute under terms of a 2005 legal agreement that required negotiations for it. The Episcopal diocese has about 9,000 members in 29 parishes. The Anglicans have about 20,000 members in 74 congregations.

Bishop Kenneth L. Price showed little interest in settling any property action that did not resolve his two issues - how much money he could squeeze from each parish and his disallowance by any parish leaving to align themselves with another Anglican jurisdiction. For orthodox Anglican parishes these have been bitter pills to swallow. If settlement agreements fail, they will walk and he will be left with lots of empty, unsalable properties. The issue will be whether greed and cupidity triumphs over common sense. He's already lost over two thirds of all the diocese's parishioners.

Just as the year ended a sneak attack took place by Episcopal leaders of Trinity Cathedral, Pittsburgh. They declared themselves to be the sole owners of the church. Up to this point, the Cathedral had been in a shared governance arrangement between the Anglican Diocese under Archbishop Robert Duncan and the Episcopal diocese, a symbol of civility amidst the property battles going on around the country.

Then it all suddenly changed. In an 11-7 decision, taken with the three Anglican members of the cathedral chapter absent, the Episcopalians made a stealth grab for the property. The provost of the downtown cathedral, the Rev. Catherine Brall, who first proposed the shared arrangement, said it was a great idea but, unfortunately, humans being what they are, it was difficult to put into practice. "We gave it three years to work, and it just wasn't working."

Not surprisingly, no one on the Anglican side was informed in advance that the vote would take place. "I don't think anyone on our side was surprised that it happened, but we were surprised at when it happened, that it was right before Christmas," said David Trautman, spokesman for the Anglican diocese. So much for the vaunted doctrine of Episcopal inclusion and diversity.

FT. WORTH & SAN JOAQUIN

Litigation in Ft. Worth and San Joaquin dioceses continued apace and promises to be a long drawn out battle that will go well into 2012. Millions of dollars worth of property are at stake. In 2011 The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin elected a new bishop, Eric Menees, who will continue the property battles fought for many years by now retired Bishop John-David Schofield.

Total legal fees for both sides, already well over $20 million, are expected to double or more before the dust settles.

Both sides in the fight for properties have taken four positions. The first is that the parish simply ups and leaves without a legal battle handing the check book and keys over to the bishop who then must figure out what he will do with the near empty parish property. More often than not, the parish is demoted to a mission status and held together by a retired priest. A second pathway is an amicable arrangement between the parish and the bishop such as we saw in the Diocese of New Jersey where Bishop George Edward Councell settled with the CANA parish in Helmetta allowing them to purchase the property at fair market value. All parties parted amicably. A third pathway is to fight to the death. We are seeing this in the Bishop Seabury parish in Groton, CT, with the feisty Fr. Ron Gauss and parish who are prepared to go all the way to the US Supreme Court if necessary to keep the property they paid for. A fourth option is to fight in the lower courts, lose to the Dennis Canon, end the battle and the congregation and priest walk solemnly away. This happened most recently at Christ Church, Savannah, with the lawyers being the only winners.

For a more comprehensive picture and highlight in Church Legal News for 2011 click here: http://accurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/12/2011-highlights-in-church-legal-news.html

SOUTH CAROLINA

It was a year when the Diocese of South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence came under close scrutiny from his fellow Province IV bishops who invited him to attend a meeting in Charleston, South Carolina to discuss the recent issuing of quitclaim deeds by the bishop and the Standing Committee to parishes of the diocese.

Gracious hospitality and collegiality characterized the gathering along with what was described as open, honest, and forthright conversation. The bishops did not agree on all matters discussed and the future was a matter of prayer and ongoing engagement, they said. Translation. Gracious hospitality will not last long. Lawrence will not be allowed to get away with this. This is just the beginning of opening skirmishes between Lawrence and his fellow bishops with the ecclesiastical eye of Katharine Jefferts Schori and her legal beagle David Booth Beer never far from the fray.

WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL & BISHOP BUDDE

An earthquake briefly shook the East Coast with the Washington National Cathedral taking the brunt of the moving tectonic plates. As no other building came in for such a hammering, was God trying to get through to the new Episcopal owner? No other church suffered as much damage as did this symbol of Episcopal inclusion. In the midst of the chaos, the Diocese of Washington's spiritual tectonic plates moved even further to the left when the diocese consecrated a woman priest, Mariann Budde, who made enough crazy statements to make one wonder if she was ever a Christian let alone a bishop. Perhaps she will start a new TV sitcom "Angry Bishops" starring Bishop Dixon, Bishop Harris, Bishop Glasspool and PB Jefferts Schori.

She began one service with "In the name of God..." but conveniently forgot the other two members of the Trinity, which left bewildered listeners wondering if she might have had another god in mind.

She quoted her New Age master, David Whyte. In one sentence, Budde talked of "Jesus and all of the great spiritual masters before and after him." Jesus Christ becomes one of many spiritual masters and, for Budde, one not to the level of her chosen master. She used Whyte's words throughout the sermon. To show how deeply Budde is engaged with New Age spiritual practices, she revealed her own use of autosuggestion, a mental technique discovered in the late 19th century. Outgoing Bishop John Chane got his nose out of joint when he learned that she would take over his interim responsibilities at the cathedral following the resignation of Dean Samuel Lloyd who departed washed up and burned out.

ANGLICAN COVENANT

The Anglican Covenant continued coursing its way through the Anglican Communion like floundering wildebeest crossing a crocodile-infested African river.

Mrs. Jefferts Schori said in her book The Heartbeat of God that the Covenant is past its shelf life, which pretty well guarantees that it is dead on arrival at GC2012 where it will be hotly debated with much faux outrage at a disciplinary section and then soundly rejected. Some six provinces have "approved" or "accepted" the Anglican Covenant. The Province of South East Asia has "acceded" to it, The Church of Ireland "subscribed" to it. Six provinces are in various stages of debate and ratification or rejection.

At its recent November meeting in Asunción, Paraguay, the Executive Committee of the Province of the Southern Cone of America voted to approve the Anglican Covenant. The Province views the covenant as a way forward given the difficult circumstance of watching certain Provinces of the Anglican Communion propose novel ways of Christian living in rejection of Biblical norms. That's putting it nicely.

"In response to these novel practices the Southern Cone had held churches in North America under its wing for some time while the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) was formed. However, the Province has not maintained jurisdiction over any local churches there for over a year. As a result, all so called 'border crossings' by any provincial members ceased (as of October, 2010) even though the Southern Cone still remains in impaired communion with US and Canadian Provinces. It is hoped that the Covenant can now provide Communion stability," said a press release.

According to the website maintained by "No Anglican Covenant: Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity", all thirty-eight provinces (national and regional churches) of the Anglican Communion have been asked to adopt an agreement, the Anglican Covenant (or Anglican Communion Covenant), which sets out a process for dispute resolution among Communion churches. A Disciplinary Section IV has had liberal provinces kicking and screaming about orthodox provinces lack of inclusion of pansexuality, which is pretty well the death knell on the Covenant, though a number of orthodox and liberal theologians painfully hang on to the delusion that it will be the tie that binds.

The "Comprehensive Unity" group concluded with this sentiment, "Rather than bringing peace to the Communion, we predict that the covenant text itself could become the cause of future bickering and that its centralized dispute-resolution mechanisms could beget interminable quarrels and resentments."

The approval process could still take years as it winds its way through the provinces long after Williams has gone. The Episcopal Church's Executive Council will offer a resolution at General Convention rejecting the Covenant.

JEFFERTS SCHORI & BEDE PARRY

Mrs. Jefferts Schori came under intense scrutiny in 2011. The Case of Bede Parry, a former Roman Catholic monk who was received into TEC by her when she was Bishop of Nevada, rocked the blogosphere when he admitted sexually abusing a minor and would be a repeat offender if the right situation offered itself. "I made the decision to receive him," Jefferts Schori said in a statement, "believing that he demonstrated repentance and amendment of life and that his current state did not represent a bar to his reception."

Parry was forced to resign from All Saints' Episcopal Church in Las Vegas where he was an organist when a civil lawsuit was filed alleging that he abused a minor in 1987. Parry was a monk and choir director at Conception Abbey in Conception, MO. Current Nevada Bishop Dan Edwards spun his boss's failings saying Parry has not been accused of wrongdoing since his Episcopal ordination.

A psychiatrist's report said Barry would abuse again. Based on that knowledge, she should not have even considered him. She apparently gave no thought to the abused kids only to the pederast Parry. The House of Bishops considered no reprimand or investigation of her behavior.

VOL writer and correspondent Sarah Frances Ives dove into Jefferts Schori's faith (what she really believes), the role of TEC and the Anglican Communion. Some of the choice comments found in her book The Heartbeat of Godinclude calling Jesus both a Hell's Angel gang leader (115) as well as a "party animal" (4). She also believes that Jesus is one of the prophets who pointed out a few things and is not the only begotten Son. (And you wonder why four bishops fled to Rome and others to form AMIA, CANA and ACNA).

GENE ROBINSON

V. Gene Robison, the homogenital Bishop of New Hampshire who discovered a higher power after admitting he was an alcoholic, announced he would retire in 2013. Apparently, he can make more money on the lecture circuit than in dealing with pesky going-out-of-business parishes in his declining diocese.

Since 2003, his consecration has continued to pour salt on open wounds in The Anglican Communion, barely avoiding outright schism. Recently, the Province of the Sudan's Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul excoriated TEC over its failure to discipline Robinson and its continued acquiescence to pansexuality in the consecration of lesbian bishop Mary Glasspool. The outcome of his theological rage resulted in the orthodox archbishop publicly disinviting Jefferts Schori to his country. He blasted her saying "it remains difficult for us to invite you when elements of your church continue to flagrantly disregard biblical teaching on human sexuality". Preach it, bishop.

If and when the Church of England embraces women bishops (which now seems very likely) and fails to offer any safe harbor for evangelical and Anglo-Catholic priests, (who reject such an innovation), another rending tear will be visible in the fabric of the communion.

TWS & OWS

Trinity Wall Street (TWS) and Occupy Wall Street (OWS) met in a "money changers in the Temple" moment. The richest church in the world encountered the 99% in what started out as a mutual admiration society and then broke down after the occupiers were evicted from Zuccotti Park. OWS tried to get TWS to allow them to use a vacant lot owned by the church known as Duarte Park. The church declined, calling the proposed encampment "wrong, unsafe, unhealthy and potentially injurious." TWS apparently was not prepared to spring for porta potties.

Among those arrested for civil disobedience were retired Bishop Suffragan of the Armed Forces, Bishop George Packard and several others, including two Episcopal priests for trespassing as he and they climbed a ladder and scaled the fence that surrounded Duarte Park. Packard wrote on his blog, "I am still baffled that the Episcopal Church of which I have been a member all my life could not--through Trinity--find some way to embrace these thousands of young people in our very diminishing ranks. Every year for the last five years we have lost 14,000 members, he moaned. How hard would it have been for Trinity to convene legal counsel and say, "Give us some options so that a charter could be granted over the winter months?"

"We need more; you have more," one protester, Amin Husain, 36, told a Trinity official. "We are coming to you for sanctuary." Ah, yes–you have money, and we want some. This is the essence to which leftism can always be reduced. The church's status is as a real estate titan. TWS discovered to its horror that it had nurtured a viper (OWS) in its bosom.

Both New York Episcopal Bishop Mark Sisk and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori wrote public letters in support of the church's action. Archbishop Desmond Tutu even weighed in on the side of the church. This all happened as the Christmas season was in full swing. The irony should not be missed.

In London, the Dean and Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral resigned over the decision by the Cathedral to deny access of the London Stock Exchange occupiers to the Cathedral, which brought a strong response from London Bishop Richard Chartres who decried it. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave an incomprehensible response to the whole fiasco that no one understood.

ROWAN WILLIAMS

On the international front, Dr. Williams got publicly humiliated a second time (the first was at the Lambeth Conference 2008) when a third of his primates failed to show. It happened again in Dublin, Ireland where the mostly same group of primates, who represent more than 75% of the Anglican Communion, were a no show. Those that came lit candles and put them on the chairs of those who did not. Little or nothing of consequence was achieved in Dublin. In short it bombed. Dr. Williams was forced to blow out the candles.

When looters and arsonists broke out in England's cities, Williams responded by saying that they were the socially excluded victims of society's rage. We must make them feel "safe and loved". We must give the poor, sad, underprivileged and misunderstood "youngsters", who were left with no alternative but to burn the shops, as many "role models" as they want. Not that they seemed to be asking for role models, by the way, being content enough to avail themselves of basketsful of iPods, mobile phones and designer shirts and trainers. We must compel them to have role models. Williams made no suggestion that the churches might be to blame for not preaching the 10 Commandments, adhering to law and civil behavior with his clergy ardently preaching the gospel for the looters' salvation.

No other archbishop in recorded history has been so publicly ridiculed and mocked for his positions. Whole blogs are devoted to satirical essays on his various positions. Can one imagine such ridicule aimed at archbishops like Cranmer, Coggan or Ramsey?

One wag ran a headline in his blog: RESOLVED: ROWAN WILLIAMS SHOULD NO LONGER BE ALLOWED TO PUBLICLY SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL.

He concluded with these lines: "I don't know why Dr. Williams keeps on doing it. I don't know why he keeps on trotting out the same old tired bromides about this or that social problem. Because he's an academician and clichés are all he knows? Could be. But it could also be that Rowan Williams really isn't as intelligent as people seem to think he is?"

Then the Telegraph newspaper broke the story that Williams was thinking of resigning. Lambeth Palace neither confirmed nor denied the story, but Williams did send a representative to Quito, Ecuador where the TEC HOB was meeting to inform them that the press leak had no substance.

TEC, SAULS & MONEY

TEC found itself running short of money owing to the tens of thousands of departures and the deaths of aging WASPS with money. Smaller double-digit congregations are finding it difficult to keep the doors open and the heat on.

As a result, at the September meeting of the House of Bishops, Stacy Sauls, former bishop of Lexington and now the new COO of The Episcopal Church, gave a power point presentation, which said, in essence, that TEC must stop its profligate ways, tighten its belt and prepare for leaner days.

After a lengthy slide presentation outlining the various Episcopal Church Center departments and offices (all of which have multiple reporting structures), he noted that, as it stands in the current budget process, governance is funded first. He then asked, "What would happen if we reversed that priority, starting with mission?" Based on that, what if, in creating a hypothetical annual budget of $27 million, $19 million of that budget went toward mission and the remaining $8 million toward overhead? (The current budget is closer to $35 million, he noted.)

Is anybody listening? The trouble is that TEC, being a highly democratic institution, except when it comes to endorsing the faith, met Saul's angst with resistance from the President of the House of Deputies, Bonnie Anderson.

Others noted that Sauls' proposal was made without any consultation with any of those 75 commissions, committees and boards or 46 Episcopal Church Center's departments and offices. Sauls offered the bishops a "model" resolution for each diocese to submit to the 77th General Convention in 2012 for consideration. The model resolution would call for a special commission to be charged with "presenting a plan to the church for reforming its structures, governance, administration, and staff to facilitate this church's faithful engagement in Christ's mission."

One wonders if, in the light of this, the big news at GC2012 will be the budget with rites for same sex blessings running a distant second.

STANDING COMMISSION ON LITURGY & MUSIC: SAME-SEX UNIONS

On that score, the Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) released educational materials and other information surrounding its plan to ask General Convention to authorize a three-year trial use of proposed rites for blessing same-sex unions.

During that same time period, the church also would reflect on its understanding of marriage in light of changes in both societal norms and civil law if convention agrees to a related resolution the commission will propose, according to the Rev. Ruth Meyers, SCLM chair.

According to Meyers, the 18-month process included "a wide consultative process" with "input from a number of people" before being ready to present the final draft to the church of a three-year trial use of proposed rite of blessings and more conversation about the civil and spiritual nature of marriage and blessings.

TRANSLATION: The Episcopal Church will propose and pass resolutions on same-sex marriage and redefine 6,000 years of biblical history, teaching, theology, reason and revelation on marriage just to satisfy the sexual tastes of a handful of Episcopal pansexualists who insist they have it right when the vast bulk of Christendom disagrees with them.

CONTINUING CHURCHES

The Continuing Church movement, which has its origins in the 1977 St. Louis Convention, met twice in 2011, first in Victoria, BC and again in Massachusetts demonstrating real signs that the major players like the ACCC, ACA, ACC and APCK, (with several coming under the TAC umbrella) want to heal the breach of nearly 35 years of Anglo-Catholic fragmentation. It was a bold move led, largely but not exclusively, by Brian Marsh, Presiding Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeast, Anglican Church in America. He represents a new generation of Continuing Anglican leaders more committed to unity than territorial fights and splits.

Archbishop Mark Haverland of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) noted that Women's Ordination still remained the dividing issue between Continuers and the ACNA and was a stumbling block to full Anglican unity. He said the Pope's Ordinariate offer served as an unintentional instrument of unity among Anglo-Catholics.

The head of the Continuing (TAC) Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Michael Gill told listeners at Massachusetts world conference of Anglican Continuers that unless they made evangelism their top priority, they would go out of business even as they uphold the traditional faith of the church.

TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN COMMUNION

The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) came unraveled when its leader, John Hepworth, was asked to step down as archbishop and Primate after he learned that the vast majority of his people around the world had no intention of going to Rome and had lost faith in his leadership. A vote in the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) College of Bishops called for his immediate removal from office. There were no votes in support of his staying as Primate. Hepworth, in turn, accused three Roman Catholic priests of sexually abusing him years earlier. When the dust finally settled, he was gone and Rome was not interested in him except as a layman.

AMIA SPLITS

A truly sad note this past year was the split in the Anglican Mission in the Americas. As of the time of this writing, things are still somewhat up in the air. The central issue is the formation of a Missionary Society, long in the works, advocated by Bishop Chuck Murphy. A change in leadership in Rwanda from Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini to Archbishop Onesphore Rwaje, plus allegations of money misuse, caused an implosion in the (AMIA) missionary movement that split from The Episcopal Church more than a decade ago. Nine AMIA bishops quit the African Anglican province and the Anglican Communion with two remaining under the Archbishop of Rwanda. The likely winner in all this is the ACNA. Archbishop Robert Duncan issued a pastoral letter stating that reconciliation between the breakaway bishops and Rwanda was a condition for further talks that would allow the breakaway bishops to find a new provincial home.

We will know more when the AMIA meets next week in Houston at their Winter Conference. VOL will be present for this conference.

The bishops of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America affirmed their missionary status under the Anglican Province of Nigeria. CANA (birthed in 2005) will retain 'dual citizenship' in the Anglican Church in North America. The bishops rejoiced in the recent creation of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic where many clergy and congregations continue in their relationship with CANA. Bishop Martyn Minns reaffirmed that CANA is a missionary jurisdiction and that CANA's core ministry is to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit transforming lives and communities across North America. The Rev. Julian Dobbs, a New Zealander, was ordained a Bishop in CANA as Minns plans to spend more time in England setting up the Fellowship of Concerned Anglicans (FCA) in accordance with a mandate from the GAFCON Primates.

The bishops discussed a recent decision of the General Synod of the Church of Nigeria, making provision for the creation of CANA missionary dioceses in North America. CANA's Chancellor, Scott Ward, Esq., briefed the bishops on progress towards the formal inauguration of the Missionary Diocese of the Trinity which is to be led by Bishop Amos Fagbamiye.

ACNA itself ended the year with some 100,000 Anglicans in nearly 1,000 congregations across the United States and Canada.

ORDINARIATE ESTABLISHED

An Ordinariate was established in the US on Jan 1. 2012. (One had already been established in the UK in January of 2011). VOL broke the news of the Ordinariate in December 2011. This was the last event of 2011 while the event itself took place in 2012. The establishment of a personal Ordinariate by the Pope for disaffected Episcopalians was years in the making. Heading this equivalent of a nationwide diocese in the United States is former Episcopal bishop Jeffrey Steenson. Those joining the Ordinariate will be full-fledged Catholics and expected to show allegiance to the Pope, but will be allowed to retain liturgical practices from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Episcopal priests who are married will be exempted from the Catholic requirement of celibacy, though they may not become bishops.

Of this past year, one can only say that, for the most part, it was truly disastrous; 2012 promises not to be a whole lot better. GC2012 will bless same-sex unions with Rites. The only issue will be its forced implementation in dioceses, much like women's ordination. The ACNA will continue to grow, slowly but surely over time displacing TEC as the authentic voice of Anglicanism in North America.

The Episcopal Church will ratify the full range of sexualities - LGBTQI - thus putting it totally outside mainstream Anglicanism alienating itself still further from the Global South whose leaders publicly attacked TEC for its alien sexual abominations. The Church of England Synod will consider both the appointment of women to the episcopacy and the acceptance of The Anglican Covenant. New voices are being raised in CofE circles about the growing need for evangelism in England as its church numbers decline.

Those remaining orthodox dioceses in the Episcopal Church will be forced to make uncomfortable decisions if TEC ratifies and then demands that dioceses perform same sex marriages. The consciences of bishops like Bill Love (Albany), Mark Lawrence (South Carolina) and Gregory Brewer (Central Florida) - to name but a few - will be tested to the hilt.

2012 will be a nail biting year and a very rough ride for bishops, priests and laity with consciences who still wish to be faithful to Scripture and the gospel above all else.

END