By Margaret Morton
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Looking for a new home after breaking with the Diocese of Virginia, the Church of Our Saviour at Oatlands last week purchased the 24-acre Oaksworth Farm located just north of Oatlands Plantation.
Oaksworth Farm was operated as a Christmas tree farm and vineyard by retired diplomat Marian Czarnecki, who sold the farm in 2005 and died in February.
The Rev. Elijah White said the acquisition was fortuitous for both the church and Oatlands Plantation, as the two entities now protect each other from development.
Our Saviour had been among 11 conservative Episcopal parishes in Virginia to break with the Diocese of Virginia and the national Episcopal Church over doctrinal and other issues and join the Diocese of Uganda.
The announcement the parish intended to look for land on which to build a new church ensued after that dispute ended in a settlement with the diocese following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Virginia that the breakaway churches did not have the right to retain their physical assets. That verdict overturned an earlier lower court ruling. The financial burden on the parish was severe, White noted at the time.
Under the terms of the settlement, the parish has five years in which it can continue to lease the buildings and ground at Our Saviour from the diocese, but it can break the lease with 30 days' notice. And it will take the better part of three years realistically to build a new church, White said Tuesday.
And it was not just the settlement that caused the decision to look for land, but also the need to expand. White said the church experiences overflowing attendance, "between 80 to 90 people at the 9:30 service and between 20 to 30 at the 8 o'clock."
As part of the settlement, the parish agreed to cease its affiliation with the Diocese of Uganda and relinquish title to its present property. Which diocese it will join once the parish does leave the Church of Our Savior at Oatlands, has not been decided by the vestry. "We don't know what the situation will be in three years," White said.
In addition to the Christmas tree farm and a vineyard, the property has two houses, one of five bedrooms and the other three bedrooms, along with "a large farm pond suitable for baptizing the bold," White said.
Whether some rooms in the two houses would be converted to church use, as a possible office, Sunday School rooms or gathering area, "depends on what the parish designs and builds. We'll have to see what we still might need," White said.
The parish bought the property with cash and plans to raise the necessary funds to build the new church.
Until its new building is constructed, the parish will continue to lease the church for $500 a month from the Diocese of Virginia. What the diocese will do with the current small structure and parish house on the east side of Rt. 15 when the property reverts, will be "up to them," White said, noting half the property is in flood plain.
"During [Hurricane] Agnes, the pews were floating around the church," he recalled.
While that decision will not be his to make, one appropriate use might be for it to be incorporated in Oatlands Plantation, White said, noting that it was former Oatlands owner "Mrs. Eustis who built and paid for the parish house" and that the church contains memorial plaques to several members of the Eustis family.
"It seems a perfect fit," he said.
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