California Church board will appeal court's ruling
A judge's decision finds that the land and building used by congregation belong to local diocese.

By Ryan Vaillancourt
July 10, 2007

LA CRESCENTA — The governing body of St. Luke's of the Mountains Anglican Church voted unanimously on Monday to appeal a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruling that the La Crescenta church's property belongs to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

A majority of St. Luke's congregants voted in February 2006 to split from the Los Angeles Diocese and Episcopal Church USA, citing theological differences with the larger church. The church, then St. Luke's of the Mountains Episcopal Church, joined the Anglican Province of Uganda, reaffirming its membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The diocese, in turn, sued St. Luke's, arguing that the church property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church.

"What's at stake is the church property of St. Luke's," said Debbie Kollgaard, St. Luke's senior warden. "It would mean that we would not be able to worship in that building anymore. We would be kicked out."

The St. Luke's vestry, a rotating governing committee of 12 congregants, contends that the church property — at 2563 Foothill Blvd. — and the 83-year-old church building itself belong to St. Luke's, Kollgaard said.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard Wiley Jr. ruled against St. Luke's in 77-page decision on July 3, upholding the national church's claim that a 1979 canon — or church law — established its ownership of all Episcopal parish property in the country.

"The court found that the national church had passed a canon, which confirmed an understanding, which predated that canon, that all parish property was held in trust for the diocese and the national church," said Diocese Chancellor John Shiner, who is leading the case for the diocese.

St. Luke's was not alone when it broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2006, and it is not alone now in its legal battles with the Diocese. Three Orange County parishes — which split from the diocese in 2004, and are now under the jurisdiction of the same Uganda Anglican bishop that oversees St. Luke's — are embroiled in a similar legal skirmish.

Last week's decision came less than two weeks after an Orange County appeals court ruled in favor of the diocese in a property dispute with the three Orange County parishes.

All four parishes have cited the Episcopal Church's more liberal interpretation of the Bible as the reason for breaking away from the national church, Kollgaard said.

Though a schism between the two entities has slowly mounted for about 40 years, the smaller parishes were set off in 2003 by the Episcopal Church's consecration of a gay bishop in New Hampshire, she said.

"That's the straw that broke the camel's back," she said.

Wiley's decision is a tentative loss for St. Luke's and its congregation, but it also has a potential bearing on the greater La Crescenta community, said Mike Lawler, president of the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley.

If the diocese retains ownership of the church property, an architectural icon could be in jeopardy, he said.

"I'm really worried," Lawler said. "The [St. Luke's] building is considered by most historians to be the architectural landmark of the valley."

Dedicated in 1924, the structure was designed by portrait artist Seymour Thomas, Lawler said.

"If the Episcopal Church got a hold of it, I'm worried they'd just sell it and then we'd have a fight on our hands," Lawler said.

The diocese has made no decision about what it would do with the property if the July 3 ruling is upheld, Shiner said.

"There's been no decision made and it would be inappropriate for us to speculate as to what may or may not happen, assuming the appellate court upholds the lower court's decision," Shiner said.

This article comes from the Glenndale News-Press
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