The Dilemma of Ownership

According to San Francisco AP on January 5, 2009, California’s supreme court ruled Monday that three Southern parishes that left the U.S. Episcopal Church cannot retain ownership of their church buildings and property. The three California parishes include: St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David’s Church in North Hollywood. In 2004 these three parishes pulled out of the 2.1 million-member national Episcopal Church, and have sought to retain property ownership. Each church held deeds in their names to the property. The court ruled that Episcopal Church canons made it clear the property belonged to the individual parishes only as long as they remained part of the bigger church. “When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it,” Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin wrote for the seven-member court.

This court decision will affect other Episcopal Church property issues in Pittsburgh (see related link), Fort Worth, Texas, and Quincy, Ill., where dioceses recently voted to split from the national church. The lessons we continue to learn from this court ruling relate to substance over form. According to the California case, the Episcopal Church canons dictated the property ownership, not the deed. Difficult dilemma faced by these congregations and the related diocese.

Does your church have an operating agreement that designates property ownership? Who bears the risk of ownership?