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JACKSONVILLE: Anglican parish in property dispute
A question of who owns the church building goes before a Duval County judge.
By JEFF BRUMLEY
The Times-Union
October 5, 2006
An Anglican parish striving to retain its Jacksonville property cannot argue theology in a lawsuit filed against it by Bishop John Howard, attorneys for the Episcopal Diocese of Florida argued in court Wednesday.
Lawyers for Redeemer Anglican Church countered that Howard's lawsuit itself is steeped in religious arguments, and therefore should be dismissed or allowed to proceed with the parish's theology-based defense.
The hearing before Circuit Judge Karen Cole was the latest round in the lawsuit filed by the Jacksonville diocese in March.
Redeemer is one of several North Florida congregations to quit the diocese because its denomination, the Episcopal Church USA, elected an openly gay bishop in 2003 and permitted the blessing of same-sex unions.
A number of parishes and dioceses across the nation have taken similar action in the past three years, many realigning with provinces in the more conservative Worldwide Anglican Communion.
Redeemer should relinquish its Southside property to Howard because the parish left the diocese in January to join an Anglican province in Africa, the lawsuit contends. Howard also has sued Redeemer Rector Neil Lebhar and the parish vestry, its lay governing board, saying they failed in their duty to the diocese and the denomination.
Redeemer answered the suit by arguing it had to leave the diocese in order to remain part of the Anglican Communion and also to be faithful to centuries of orthodox Christian teaching on homosexuality.
That answer was the subject of Wednesday's hearing, with attorneys for the diocese arguing that matters of religious conviction cannot be grounds for defense in such lawsuits.
Federal and Florida case law says courts may resolve church-related property disputes but may not settle theological differences such as teaching on homosexuality, said Stephen Busey, the attorney arguing the diocese's case Wednesday.
Case law also favors church hierarchies, such as denominations, in property disputes with individual congregations, Busey said.
Parish attorney Kyle Gavin said the congregation's true hierarchy is the Anglican Communion and that a rector's and vestry's duties are religious in nature - to further the mission of the parish.
Therefore those duties also cannot be decided by civil courts, Gavin said.
Cole, the judge, said she could not dismiss the case because the parish had not filed a motion asking her to do so. She concluded the hearing by saying she would consider the diocese's motion that the congregation's faith-based arguments be stricken from the case.
Howard was not present at the hearing in Cole's chambers. Lebhar was there, sitting at the table with his attorneys.
jeff.brumley@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4310
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/100506/met_5426795.shtml
