You are here
IRONDEQUOIT, NY: All Saints Anglican Church loses in court
It's ordered to leave property over a dispute with diocese
Sheila Rayam Staff writer
Rochester Democrat Chronicle
(September 20, 2006) - IRONDEQUOIT - A state judge has ordered All Saints Anglican Church in Irondequoit to turn over the property and records of the former All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church to the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester.
The Irondequoit congregation has been at odds with the diocese over the Episcopal Church of the USA's 2003 ordination of a gay bishop in New Hampshire. All Saints refused to pay $16,000 that it owed the diocese and had continued to use the building after it was ousted from the diocese last fall.
State Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Fisher handed down a summary judgment in favor of the local Episcopal diocese on Sept. 13. The Episcopal diocese filed a lawsuit March 6 seeking the property of the former All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church at 759 Winona Blvd.
"I think we're all pleased that the court ruled in support of the ministry of the diocese. We have to be stewards of our property," said the Rev. Canon Carolyn Lumbard, a spokeswoman for the diocese. "But it's still a sorrowful thing that we had to take the route that we have had to take."
The congregation, now known as All Saints Anglican Church, had refused to hand over the keys to the building in November and continued to meet there. The conflict started when All Saints refused to pay the $16,000 apportionment.
Apportionments are required from each of the Rochester diocese's 52 congregations. But All Saints withheld the money because it believed the diocese and the Episcopal Church of the USA should have given individual dioceses the right to decide whether to bless same-sex unions.
Delegates from the other area Episcopal churches voted to dissolve All Saints on Nov. 19.
The congregation has since joined the Church of the Province of Uganda, a separate church within the Anglican Communion. Like the Episcopal Church of the USA, it has roots in the Church of England.
The Rev. David Harnish, pastor of All Saints, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Three parishioners of All Saints, contacted on Tuesday, also declined comment.
Eugene Van Voorhis, the lead attorney for All Saints Church, said Tuesday that he could not comment about the ruling at this time.
Syracuse lawyer Raymond Dague, a consultant to Voorhis and All Saints, said the ruling could be appealed.
"This is obviously a serious setback for the parish," added Dague.
"But an appeal is one option and there are various other things in connection with an appeal which may be done, but it's too soon for us to really say at this point where things are going to go."
Lumbard said that to her knowledge, no date had been set for the transfer of the church's records.
When the records are handed over, however, they will be kept in the diocesan archives, she said.
Lumbard did not have any information on how the church property would be used by the diocese.
SRAYAM@DemocratandChronicle.com
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006609200406 Includes reporting by staff writers Marketta
