FAIRFAX, Va. — A Virginia judge ruled Dec. 19 that three parcels of land belong to parishes that have broken away from the Episcopal Church, handing conservatives an important, if tentative, legal win.
An 1867 state law, passed as Virginia congregations separated over slavery, allows a parish to disaffiliate from a denomination where a division has occurred while maintaining legal control over parish property.
Judge Randy Bellows of Fairfax Circuit Court ruled Friday the three parcels of land in northern Virginia, which include church buildings, are covered by the “division statute,” as it is commonly known.
In April, Bellows ruled that a “division of the first magnitude” has arisen in the worldwide Anglican Communion and its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, over homosexuality. Friday’s ruling ends the first chapter of an expensive legal battle. The Diocese of Virginia, which is challenging the breakaway churches’ ownership claims, has spent $2 million on legal fees thus far and has pledged to appeal Bellows’ decision to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
“One Virginia judge has looked at this case,” said Henry D.W. Burt, secretary of the Diocese of Virginia, “now seven Virginia justices need to.”
In 2007, 11 congregations in northern Virginia voted to secede from the Episcopal Church because of the denomination’s support for gay rights and other liberal developments. The congregations have reorganized as the Anglican District of Virginia.
Share with others: