Thinking Anglicans

Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia announced a settlement of their property dispute on 17 April and issued this joint statement.

Joint Statement from Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

4/17/2012

Truro Anglican Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia announced today a settlement that concludes five years of litigation that arose after Truro Anglican and other parishes left the Episcopal Church in 2006 to become part of what is now the Anglican Church in North America.

The settlement follows a January ruling in which the Circuit Court of Fairfax County held that all real and personal property held by the parishes at the time they left the denomination belongs to the Diocese.

Under terms of the settlement, the Diocese has given Truro Anglican a rent-free lease of the church buildings at 10520 Main Street in Fairfax, as well as two rectories, until June 30, 2013. Truro Anglican will deed the properties to the Diocese by April 30, 2012, and will pay the operating costs of the properties during the term of the lease. In addition, the Diocese has the option to use a small portion of the church building during the lease, as determined between the Rev. Tory Baucum, rector of Truro Anglican, and the Rt. Rev. Shannon S. Johnston, bishop of the Diocese of Virginia.

Additionally, Truro Anglican has agreed to pay $50,000 to resolve diocesan claims for liquid assets due under the court’s order. The parties had already agreed on division of the tangible personal property held by Truro Anglican.

In several previous settlements, Anglican parishes that leased Episcopal property agreed to sever ties with all Anglican bodies during the term of the lease. Under today’s settlement, however, the parties have agreed that Truro Anglican will maintain its affiliation with the Anglican Church of North America and its Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Because the Diocese and Truro Anglican are part of different ecclesiastical bodies who share the Anglican tradition, they have agreed to follow a process during the term of the lease by which bishops may visit Truro Anglican with the permission of Bishop Johnston.

An important feature of this settlement is that both sides have agreed to enter into a covenant of mutual charity and respect. This document will frame the way the Diocese and Truro Anglican will deal with one another and speak of one another. The covenant is being drafted by the Rev. Baucum and Bishop Johnston.

“This is an important step for the Diocese of Virginia and Truro Anglican,” said Bishop Johnston. “What the Diocese has sought since the court’s ruling has been a ‘witness’ and not merely an ‘outcome.’ The parties have carried on a public dispute for five years and it is important that we publicly begin to make peace.”

Bishop Johnston and the Rev. Baucum have been meeting together for prayer and conversation for over a year. “Bishop Johnston and I have become friends,” said the Rev. Baucum. “In spite of our significant theological differences, we care for and are committed to each other as brothers in Christ.”

“We are grateful for the Diocese’s generosity in allowing us to continue to use the property for another 15 months at no cost,” said the Rev. Baucum. “This allows us time to make a good transition to interim facilities and then to our new church home.”

“Tory and I believe that this is an opening for a transformative witness to many across the worldwide Anglican Communion,” added Bishop Johnston.

A settlement in another property dispute also involving the diocese of Virginia was announced the previous day: Diocese Settles with St. Paul’s Church, Anglican, Haymarket.

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Laurence Roberts
Laurence Roberts
12 years ago

An outbreak of Christianity

Lapinbizarre/Roger Mortimer
Lapinbizarre/Roger Mortimer
12 years ago

Not taken well at Stand Firm. http://www.standfirminfaith.com/?/sf/page/28698

Father Ron Smith
12 years ago

“Where Charity and Love are – there is God”.

What a loving and gracious thing to do in the circumstances – not to trumpet one’s success, but to move towards reconciliation – being willing to sacrifice some of the advantage of ‘being right’!

abbey mouse
abbey mouse
12 years ago

This looks like a gracious settlement in contrast with the spite evinced in the Lapin-cited link article.

An outbreak of Christianity indeed.

Steve Lusk
Steve Lusk
12 years ago

Standfirm should remember that the third man in a fight gets a game misconduct penalty. Besides, “In defeat malice” isn’t exactly a Christian motto.

Scot Peterson
12 years ago

Thanks Lapin for pointing that out. Pretty amazing stuff.

Laurence Roberts
Laurence Roberts
12 years ago

Yes,abbey mouse, these ‘outbreaks’ are so encouraging, aren’t they.

Hope for sinners like me.

Affected by having just read ‘The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne and it left me spaced out, or affected.

Jesus must have been so trusting, putting his message into stories like that, and entrusting them to that lot !

The modern church seems to tend to disregard this message of his, in favour of their fetish of what they take, to have been him.

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