The historic Anglican Church, Christ Church, in Savannah, Georgia is taking its case to the U.S. Supreme Court over property ownership. The consequences of divine judicial hardening, willful blindness, and harsh obstinacy continues to be evident as The Episcopal Church litigates for properties--in defense of their doctrinal deviations from the one true, holy, catholic and apostolic faith. These are the consequences of decades of theological declensions in decisions, attitudes and pieties. We wish Christ Church well.
http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-03-23/christ-church-savannah-turns-us-court-property-flap#.T24XnhHpC8B
http://savannahnow.com/news/2012-03-23/christ-church-savannah-turns-us-court-property-flap#.T24XnhHpC8B
Christ Church Savannah turns to U.S. Court in property flap
Posted: March 23, 2012 - 12:10pm | Updated: March 24, 2012 - 12:23am
Christ Church, located on Johnson Square.
Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
By 
Attorneys for Christ Church Savannah have filed documents asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in litigation they contend deprived them of the Johnson Square church property.
The 45-page document filed Thursday afternoon asks the high court to determine the law on local church property, which it contends has been inconsistently treated in five different jurisdictions considering the issue.
The supreme court may accept or reject the request for review.
The basic issue is whether a trust allegedly imposed on local church property in church documents must be treated as legally binding under court rulings and the First Amendment.
That is the key issue in the Georgia Supreme Court’s November ruling that the Johnson Square church and its property belong to the national Episcopal Church, not the local congregation under an earlier trust.
The latest action in the more than four-year-old dispute keeps alive the breakaway congregation’s hopes of retaking the historic property from Christ Church Episcopal.
Based on the November ruling, the Christ Church Savannah congregation agreed to return possession of the property at 28 Bull St. to Christ Church Episcopal, and that group returned to the structure Dec. 1.
The Anglican group, which has remained in the building during the ongoing legal dispute, relocated its worship to the Independent Presbyterian Church at 207 Bull St.
Meanwhile, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and Christ Church Episcopal filed a motion in Chatham County Superior Court asking that the Rev. Marcus Robertson and Christ Church Savannah be cited for contempt of that court’s orders involving church property.
Among the issues in that action, which remains pending before Judge Michael Karpf, is that the Anglican congregation has failed to relinquish the names “Christ Church Savannah” and “Mother Church of Georgia” despite three court rulings against them.
The Rev. Frank Logue, diocesan spokesman, said Friday that issues in that motion are being negotiated in an effort to resolve the motion “outside of court and to the court’s satisfaction.”
Christ Church Episcopal members left the church property on Johnson Square in a dispute over theology in 2007, then sued in Superior Court to regain the property. They asked the court to declare that all property of Christ Church was held in trust for the Episcopal Church.
Karpf, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court ruled with the Episcopal Church in the litigation.
Savannah attorney Patrick O’Connor, who participated in the filing, said Friday the local case joins two other petitions for review involving the same basic issues now before the Supreme Court.
“This points to the uncertainty of the law,” O’Connor said. “For that reason, we believe there is a very good chance the Supreme Court will agree to hear this case, and we think it should.”
Valdosta attorney Jim Elliott, the attorney for the Episcopal Diocese, said Friday he had not seen the petition and could not comment on the arguments it set forth.
“However, we have extreme confidence that the three courts that have already decided the merits have done do correctly and that the U.S. Supreme Court will also do so,” Elliott said.
The 45-page document filed Thursday afternoon asks the high court to determine the law on local church property, which it contends has been inconsistently treated in five different jurisdictions considering the issue.
The supreme court may accept or reject the request for review.
The basic issue is whether a trust allegedly imposed on local church property in church documents must be treated as legally binding under court rulings and the First Amendment.
That is the key issue in the Georgia Supreme Court’s November ruling that the Johnson Square church and its property belong to the national Episcopal Church, not the local congregation under an earlier trust.
The latest action in the more than four-year-old dispute keeps alive the breakaway congregation’s hopes of retaking the historic property from Christ Church Episcopal.
Based on the November ruling, the Christ Church Savannah congregation agreed to return possession of the property at 28 Bull St. to Christ Church Episcopal, and that group returned to the structure Dec. 1.
The Anglican group, which has remained in the building during the ongoing legal dispute, relocated its worship to the Independent Presbyterian Church at 207 Bull St.
Meanwhile, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and Christ Church Episcopal filed a motion in Chatham County Superior Court asking that the Rev. Marcus Robertson and Christ Church Savannah be cited for contempt of that court’s orders involving church property.
Among the issues in that action, which remains pending before Judge Michael Karpf, is that the Anglican congregation has failed to relinquish the names “Christ Church Savannah” and “Mother Church of Georgia” despite three court rulings against them.
The Rev. Frank Logue, diocesan spokesman, said Friday that issues in that motion are being negotiated in an effort to resolve the motion “outside of court and to the court’s satisfaction.”
Christ Church Episcopal members left the church property on Johnson Square in a dispute over theology in 2007, then sued in Superior Court to regain the property. They asked the court to declare that all property of Christ Church was held in trust for the Episcopal Church.
Karpf, a three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals and the state Supreme Court ruled with the Episcopal Church in the litigation.
Savannah attorney Patrick O’Connor, who participated in the filing, said Friday the local case joins two other petitions for review involving the same basic issues now before the Supreme Court.
“This points to the uncertainty of the law,” O’Connor said. “For that reason, we believe there is a very good chance the Supreme Court will agree to hear this case, and we think it should.”
Valdosta attorney Jim Elliott, the attorney for the Episcopal Diocese, said Friday he had not seen the petition and could not comment on the arguments it set forth.
“However, we have extreme confidence that the three courts that have already decided the merits have done do correctly and that the U.S. Supreme Court will also do so,” Elliott said.
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