October 29, 2009
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

The organization headed by former bishop Robert Duncan that claims to have withdrawn from the Episcopal Church in 2008 said October 29 that it will appeal a court ruling that said it cannot continue to hold any assets of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

"Left uncontested, the award of all diocesan assets to the minority party, a group that comprises only a third of the parishes that were a part of our diocese when we withdrew from the Episcopal Church, would establish a precedent that we believe the minority would use to take steps to seize all the assets of all our local parishes," the group said in a statement.

That statement also said that the group was "pleased to introduce ourselves as The Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh," adding that it was "previously known as The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh."

The group also said that it was appealing because "the question of the legal right of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh to separate from its former denominational affiliation (The Episcopal Church of the United States) … has never yet had its day in court."

The leaders of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Pittsburgh issued a statement later in the day saying they were disappointed by the announcement of the group's plan to appeal. They said that the October 6 ruling "clearly and unambiguously requires that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States be the rightful trustee of those assets."

"We stand ready to defend our position and the court's ruling on appeal," the leaders said. "At the same time, we will continue to cooperate in the orderly transition of diocesan property, and when the time is right, to engage in a dialogue on other issues between us that still need to be resolved."

On October 4, 2008 a majority of the delegates to the diocese's 143rd annual convention voted to approve a resolution by which the diocese purported to leave the Episcopal Church. The leaders who departed have said that they remain in charge of an entity they had been calling the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican) that is now part of the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. And they say that in that capacity they control all the assets that were held by the diocese when they left.

The court, however, ruled that all diocesan assets must be held by the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that is recognized by the Episcopal Church.

The suit arose out of a 2003 complaint by Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh after a special diocesan convention passed a resolution stating that all property in the diocese, which under Episcopal Church canons must held and used for the mission of the church, would be held free of that obligation. The proceedings in the suit led to an October 2005 stipulated court order in which Duncan and the other then-leaders of the diocese agreed that the "Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America" would continue to hold or administer property "regardless of whether some or even a majority of the parishes in the diocese might decide not to remain in the Episcopal Church of the United States of America."

In the October 6 opinion Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Joseph M. James explained that "regardless of what name the defendants now call themselves, they are not the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America." He ruled that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh "did not cease to exist" because it was created by the Episcopal Church and the church now recognizes that those Episcopalians who did not follow Duncan now make up the Episcopal Church's continuing diocese.

James said that the facts that those Episcopalians who did not follow Duncan elected a "subsequent board of governance and appoint[ed] a successor to Bishop Duncan" and that those actions were recognized by the Episcopal Church are "further evidence that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America never ceased to exist."

James' opinion and order are at online at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/10-6-09_PittsOrder.pdf.

The property held by or administered by the Pittsburgh diocese has been overseen by a "special master" appointed by the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas two days before Duncan's removal as a bishop of the Episcopal Church.

On October 6, James ordered all the parties in the lawsuit to meet with the special master, Pittsburgh attorney Stanley E. Levine and the Campbell & Levine law firm, within 30 days and report to the court within 20 days of that meeting with a report identifying the property that is involved.

James said he would then set up a process for "the orderly transition of possession, custody and control over said property," adding that he could continue to hold authority over the enforcement of the October 2005 order and the current one.

The Anglican group said it will appeal once the court issues a final order directing it to transfer the property to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is Episcopal News Service national correspondent.