Leaders at All Saints dispute the diocesan claim of ownership. Their attorney, Henrietta Golding, said the property belonged to the people of the community as far back as the mid-1700s, decades before the Episcopal Church or diocese were created.

Golding said neither the diocese nor the parish owned the property, and that it was owned by the people of the Waccamaw Neck area.

The diocese claims the leaders now residing there have no rights to the building and the land, and have not allowed the rightful membership access to those facilities.

Named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Bishop Edward L. Salmon Jr. of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina.

Guerry Green is senior warden of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw, and Carl Short is junior warden. Vestry members include George Townsend, James Chapman and Edward Mills. The lawsuit calls this group the “current vestry,” who replaced the “former vestry” after that group of leaders separated themselves from the Episcopal Church and aligned with the Anglican Mission in America.

Defendants named in the lawsuit, the “former vestry,” include W. Russell Campbell, senior warden; D. Clinch Heyward, junior warden; and vestry members Donald Alford, Butler F. Dargan, Diane DeBlock, Robert L. Jones, A.H. “Doc” Lachicotte, David Lane, Lou L. Paquette, Hugh Patrick and Daniel W. Stacy.

Also listed as defendants are David E. Grabeman, treasurer of All Saints Church. The Episcopal Diocese calls All Saints Church an unincorporated association. It also lists All Saints Church, Waccamaw, Inc., as a South Carolina non-profit corporation.

And, the lawsuit names South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster and Secretary of State Mark Hammond as the final two defendants.

“The former vestry has ... on occasion refused the loyal congregation access to the old church and other facilities,” diocesan spokesman the Rev. Kendall Harmon said in a statement Tuesday. “The loyal vestry and the diocese felt they had no choice other than to seek a court declaration that the loyal vestry are the proper Parish officers.”

The action is the latest in a tangled battle between the diocese and a congregation that has broken away from it.

In 2000, the diocese filed a claim that it owned All Saints Church. Harmon, the South Carolina Diocesan Canon Theologian, said that while diocesan ownership was already assumed, the title claim was filed as a precautionary measure because, at the time, there had been property disputes between Episcopal dioceses and their parish churches.

Soon after the claim was filed, All Saints sued the diocese because it was denied a loan for an expansion project. Church leaders said the diocese's claim of ownership “clouded” the title, thus making a loan impossible to obtain. In a statement dated Jan. 16, South Carolina Bishop Edward Salmon Jr. disputed that assertion. He wrote that in previous circumstances the bank had asked the church to get diocesan permission when applying for loans, that loans typically are blocked unless the diocese grants permission.

After the first lawsuit, the church split from the Episcopal denomination and joined the Anglican Mission in America, a network overseen by Anglican leaders in Rwanda and Southeast Asia. Church members who did not break away from the diocese elected new vestry members. The previous All Saints leadership did not acknowledge this or the diocese's support of it.

The smaller congregation remains loyal to the Episcopal diocese and has been denied access to the church building. Instead, they've gathered in a high school gym.

The diocese numbers that group at more than 100 members, but the Rev. Charles Murphy, All Saints' rector, said it's closer to 40.

The majority of All Saints members, those with an allegiance to the Anglican Mission in America, still worship in the All Saints building. Murphy said there are about 850 All Saints members who come to services there but who have left the Episcopal Church.

The initial lawsuit is awaiting a ruling by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

The most recent suit is separate. The diocese and members of All Saints who opposed the split with the Episcopal Church are listed as plaintiffs. The suit, filed with a Court of Common Pleas in Georgetown County, says the parish falls under diocesan authority.

The lawsuit wants the “current vestry” to be declared the legitimate officers of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw. The diocese also wants the former vestry to be declared to have no authority for the religious corporation.

The diocese wants all real and personal property to be returned to it, along with all cash and funds. It wants an accounting of those funds.

Also, the diocese wants the “former vestry” to be ejected from all real property of All Saints Parish.
If the diocese wins the lawsuit, it wants the Secretary of State to remove amendments to the 1902 Certificate of Incorporation of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw.

The “former vestry” and All Saints Church would also be enjoined “from using any name similar to or susceptible of confusion with the names historically used by All Saints Parish, Waccamaw and its predecessors.”

And, the diocese wants the former vestry to refrain from using the federal Employee Identification Number of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw.

The Rev. Canon Tim Smith is an executive officer with the Anglican Mission in America and said the lawsuit itself is strictly over property. The split from the Episcopal Church is separate, he said, and stemmed not just from the property issue, but also from theological and doctrinal differences.

“The vestry and leadership of All Saints Church have made every possible effort to resolve this matter, but they keep hitting a wall,” he said.

Michael Gartland writes for the Post and Courier. Tommy Howard is a staff writer for the Times and contributed to this story.

END

BISHOP ED SALMON RESPONDS TO LAWSUIT
on Court Action Concerning All Saints, Waccamaw

25 January 2005

The loyal vestry members of All Saints Parish, Waccamaw and the Diocese of South Carolina have filed an action in the Court of Common Pleas for Georgetown County, South Carolina, seeking a court declaration that they are the proper holders of their church offices. The former vestry members were dismissed by diocesan Bishop Edward L. Salmon, Jr. after the congregation voted to leave the diocese in January of 2004. New vestry were elected by those remaining loyal to the diocese. The former vestry have refused to acknowledge their dismissal and the legitimacy of their replacements. They also filed papers with the South Carolina Secretary of State purporting to amend the Parish charter to remove all reference to the diocese.

All Saints Parish was chartered by the Secretary of State in 1902 as a component of the diocese of South Carolina. The Parish cannot be converted to other purposes by vestry or congregation members who decide to leave the diocese. Those leaving the diocese are of course free to form their own church corporation. They cannot, however, change a parish of the diocese into something else.

The former vestry claim to hold their Parish offices despite having left the diocese and have refused the loyal vestry access to parish property and records. The former vestry has also on occasion refused the loyal congregation access to the old church and other facilities. The loyal vestry and the diocese felt they had no choice other than to seek a court declaration that the loyal vestry are the proper Parish officers. They also seek to have the former vestry members return Parish property to the loyal vestry and to cease using the parish name.

Edward L. Salmon, Jr.
XIII Bishop of South Carolina