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FALLBROOK, CA: St. John's Anglican Church Responds to Property Grab
Contends Lawsuit by Episcopal Diocese of San Diego
From St. John's Anglican Church
September 29, 2006
Fallbrook, Calif.-- On Thursday, the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, led by Episcopal Bishop James Mathes, filed suit against Fr. Donald Kroeger, nine church volunteers, and St. John's Church, Fallbrook, in an attempt to confiscate their property and punish St. John's members for exercising their religious freedom of choice to affiliate with another diocese and bishop in the Anglican Communion.
In July, an overwhelming majority of members of St. John's voted to end their spiritual affiliation with the Episcopal Church due to its forty year drift away from orthodox Christian belief, and to align with the Anglican Church of Uganda. St. John's is among hundreds of churches and thousands of individuals that have left the Episcopal Church in the past few years over issues of church doctrine.
Since St. John's has never received a penny from the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego or the national Episcopal Church to purchase or maintain its property, St. John's volunteer board voted unanimously to continue to hold services at its current location.
"Despite all of the rhetoric from the Diocese of San Diego about tolerance and reconciliation, it is clear that the Diocese has no tolerance for the overwhelming vote of our members to exercise their religious freedom or for the property rights of a separate corporation. An aggressive lawsuit suing church volunteers is beyond reason," said Rick Crossley, a congregational leader. "The money that will be spent to prosecute and defend this lawsuit could be put to much better use to help the mission of the Church."
Displaying a disregard for the due process and property rights of St. John's Church, its clergy and volunteer directors, the Diocese of San Diego demanded a hearing before the San Diego Superior Court to resolve the case within a few days, and without having served the defendants with the lawsuit. "I fail to see how allowing St. John's and church volunteers a fair opportunity to defend themselves in court instead of this kind of sneak attack to confiscate our property would have damaged Bishop Mathes or the Diocese of San Diego in any way," said The Rev. Donald Kroeger, St. John's head priest.
The lawsuit alleges that Bishop Mathes and his diocese - along with two disgruntled former church members - are the rightful owners of the St. John's property based on internal rules the church passed for itself. This is the same church rule argument made by the Diocese of Los Angeles that California courts have rejected on six previous occasions, as recently as 2005 when the Orange County Superior Court dismissed the Diocese's lawsuit against St. James Church, Newport Beach, All Saints Church, Long Beach, and St. David's Church, North Hollywood, and in the early 1980's when the Diocese of Los Angeles lost the same kind of case against three former Episcopal churches.
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