On January 18, 2004, the Rector and Vestry of New Covenant unanimously passed two resolutions, which the Rector and some of the Vestry's representatives discussed with our Chancellor and me on February 5, 2004.

The first of the resolutions declares that The Episcopal Church, USA has abandoned its authority over the Church of the New Covenant. The delegation explained that this resolution expresses the desire on the part of the Rector and the Vestry to "come out from under the authority of the Episcopal Church" (as the Senior Warden put it). The second resolution put a mechanism in place for the transfer of title of the property to a separate corporation.

Fr. Buffington, the Senior Warden, their Chancellor, and another lawyer from New Covenant, said that they want to continue being part of the Diocese of Central Florida, and under the "spiritual authority" of the Bishop of Central Florida, but no longer part of the Episcopal Church, USA.

My answer, in brief, was that there is no way to do that: to be part of the Diocese of Central Florida is to be part of the Episcopal Church; and further, although the Church of the New Covenant holds title to its property, according to the Canons of the Episcopal Church it holds that property in trust for the Episcopal Church, USA and the Diocese of Central Florida. Therefore, the title to the property cannot be transferred without the prior agreement of the Bishop, Board, and Standing Committee of the Diocese, and indeed, without the consent of the national Church, as well.

On February 5th the new Diocesan Board had not yet met, and therefore the new Executive Committee of the Board had not yet been nominated or confirmed. Thus, under our Canons, the "old" Executive Committee was still in place; "...[its members] shall serve until their successors are chosen and qualified." (Canon VI, Section 6)

Accordingly, we polled the "old" Executive Committee, and it voted unanimously to take preventative legal action, if it was deemed necessary, to stop the transfer of property without proper consent.

I then followed up on our meeting with a letter to the Rector and Vestry, asking them to formally rescind the two resolutions, and telling them that if they were unwilling to do so they would have to resign their respective positions, as the resolutions contradict their accession to the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Central Florida. I asked them to respond to me "immediately."

When five days passed with no response from the Rector and Vestry of the Church of the New Covenant, the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, and I decided that we did need to file an action with the court in Seminole County to prevent the transfer of title from proceeding any further. We informed the Chancellor of the Church of the New Covenant that we were about to do so.

We also made a full report of these developments to the Diocesan Board and the Standing Committee when each of them met for the first time this year last week on February 19, 2004.

I am now able to report that as of yesterday the second of the two resolution s has been formally rescinded by the Rector and Vestry of the Church of the New Covenant, and both they and I have agreed to a legal stipulation that while this court action is pending there will be no attempt on the part of the Rector and the Vestry of the Church of the New Covenant to transfer or encumber the real property without first obtaining the required Diocesan consents. In turn we have agreed that while this court action is pending there will be no action taken by the Diocese to remove the Rector or any member of the Vestry.

Both parties have requested the Court to enter an order referring this matter to non-binding mediation.

I think I should also mention that I have been contacted by some of the members of the Church of the New Covenant who have expressed their opposition to any attempt to leave the Episcopal Church, and their dismay that this action is being contemplated in their name.

Please do continue holding all parties concerned in your prayers. I will share with you any further developments when I am able to do so.

Warmly in our Lord,

+John W. Howe
Episcopal Bishop of Central Florida
1017 East Robinson Street
Orlando, Florida 32801
(407)423-3567