Christ Church, Alexandria, Claims Title to Older Portion of Falls Church Property

Important News About The Church Property Litigation

From: Russ Randle and Rawles Jones

On October 5, Russ Randle reported on recent developments in the litigation over legal title to church property where groups have left The Episcopal Church. Here is a summary of Russ’s report:

In 2006, in reaction to the consecration of the controversial Bishop of New Hampshire and the failure of subsequent steps to resolve the concerns of some churches, members of eleven congregations voted to leave the Diocese of Virginia and affiliate with the Episcopal Province of Nigeria, and to attempt to take church property with them.

The Episcopal Church’s governing rules – our diocesan and national canons – do not permit congregations to do this. These canons have long held that all property is owned in trust for the Diocese and the Denomination.

The departing congregations invoked a unique Virginia statute which purportedly allows congregations departing after a “division” in a denomination to take property with them by a congregational majority vote. They went to court using the statutory procedure.

In response to those suits, the Diocese of Virginia and The Episcopal Church filed to stop the departing congregations from taking the property. The cases were consolidated in the Fairfax Circuit Court, which has ruled that the Virginia statute does apply and is constitutional. This makes the names on the deeds significant in determining who owns the properties.

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In colonial Virginia the church was “established,” and was overseen by a vestry elected by the voters in a geographic area. The land on which the historic Falls Church structure sits was conveyed to the vestry of Truro Parish in 1746. (The 1746 deed does not address all the land at the Falls Church campus. Most of the modern building reportedly sits on other property.) (Truro Parish bears no relationship to the congregation that adopted the Truro name in 1932.)

The colonial Truro Parish was later divided. The area that includes the modern secular cities of Alexandria and Falls Church became Fairfax Parish, and the vestry of Fairfax Parish became the successor to the vestry of Truro Parish in that area by operation of law. The Fairfax Parish contained several church buildings, including the sanctuary now called Christ Church and the similar building located at Falls Church. One vestry administered both buildings.

In 1815 and again in 1824, as Russ Randle explained in detail at the October 5 meeting, the U.S. Supreme Court held in two cases that the vestry of our Christ Church had become the successor to the vestry of Fairfax Parish, and thus held title to the Parish’s property. We are unaware of any later deed that transfers the title of the Falls Church property to another owner.

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On September 3, 2008, counsel for the Diocese in the Fairfax litigation told us that our Christ Church vestry is the legal successor to the vestry named on the deeds for the Falls Church. They asked if the Christ Church vestry would consider a resolution affirming our continued ownership of that property in trust for the Diocese and the Episcopal Church, and whether a witness could testify at trial. This had to be decided by September 12.

The Senior Warden, Rawles Jones, consulting with the Rector and with Counsel Russ Randle and Chris McMurray, presented the situation to the vestry on September 23 in executive session. After prayerful deliberation, the vestry adopted a resolution on September 24 stating that if Christ Church has a claim different than what has already been asserted by our Diocese and Church, we affirm their assertion of that claim to the Falls Church property.

On September 25, Jack Wilmer, one of the three Christ Church trustees, testified in response to a subpoena from the departing Falls Church congregation, and may be called as a witness at trial. The vestry resolution and other Christ Church documents may be introduced into evidence, and a document custodian may be called to authenticate the resolution and other Christ Church records.

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Christ Church is not a party in the litigation. The vestry has not considered intervening in the litigation as a party, and does not intend to do so.

That said, the people who worship God at Christ Church have done so under the canons of the Diocese of Virginia since 1785. We helped establish the Diocese of Virginia and have been a loyal part of it ever since. Those canons make the vestry responsible as fiduciaries for property held by the church, as Virginia’s secular law also recognizes.

Recognizing that this situation is controversial and emotional, but given two Supreme Court cases and other law affirming that our vestry is the successor to the vestry on the 1746 Falls Church deed, and given that diocesan canons make the Diocese of Virginia the beneficial owner of property held by congregations in The Episcopal Church, the vestry has acted in its fiduciary capacity to protect the property interests of Christ Church and the Diocese of Virginia and Episcopal Church of which we are a part.

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Special Congregational Meeting

Sunday, October 19 at 10:15 AM in the Church

In the Falls Church property matter that was discussed at the October 5 Congregational Meeting and at the forum on October 12, the Diocese has asked Christ Church to quitclaim its interest in that property to the Diocese. The Vestry has considered this course of action and recommends it to the Congregation.

On Sunday, October 19, there will be a meeting of the Congregation in the Church at 10:15 AM to consider and vote on a resolution consenting to this course of action. Only members may vote on the resolution. Diocesan Canons require that members be present in order to vote.

This article comes from Christ Church, Alexandria
http://www.ccalex.org/

The URLs for these articles are:
http://www.ccalex.org/HomePage/JonesLtrOct08.aspx
and
http://www.ccalex.org/News/NewsItem1.aspx