March 18, 2010
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

A state superior court judge ruled March 15 that the real and personal property of Bishop Seabury Episcopal Church in Groton, Connecticut, is held in trust for the Diocese of Connecticut and the Episcopal Church.

Judge Barry Stevens granted a request for such a ruling from the diocese and the Episcopal Church in a lawsuit against the former rector and vestry members of the parish, which is named for the first Episcopal bishop and Groton native Samuel Seabury (1729-1796).

Former rector the Rev. Ronald S. Gauss and some former members of the parish, including then-vestry members, affiliated with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) in November 2007. Gauss has since refused to relinquish control of the church property, including the keys to the buildings and parish records.

The beginnings of the litigation can be traced to Sept. 27, 2005, when six Connecticut priests and some members of their congregations filed a federal lawsuit claiming that the diocese and others had violated their civil rights. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed the case Aug. 21, 2006. Ecclesiastical charges against Bishop Andrew D. Smith brought by the so-called "Connecticut Six" were dismissed by the Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee in April 2007.

Gauss, one of the "Connecticut Six," applied for retirement from active ministry in October 2007. On Nov. 13, 2007, Smith approved his application to retire on Dec. 1. On Nov. 14, the wardens of Bishop Seabury Church wrote to Smith informing him that the parish had affiliated with CANA.

Smith removed the parish's wardens from office and asked them and Gauss to relinquish the property, which they have not done. The bishop appointed the Rev. Canon David Cannon as priest-in-charge of Bishop Seabury Church.

In his March 15 order, Stevens prohibited Gauss and his associates from using the parish's real and personal property and ordered them immediately to turn that property over to church officials. The judge also barred the defendants from interfering with those officials' right to immediate possession, custody and control of the property. Finally, he prohibited the defendants from "wasting, selling, transferring, conveying or encumbering" any of the property.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is a national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service and editor of Episcopal News Monthly.