[Magdalen] Proposed Property Settlement in Episcopal Litigation Turned Down

[ROGER STOKES]

I was afraid that would be the reaction to this offer.  The Lawrence group want to maintain the idea that they are the ones with the true claim to the Episcopal heritage while rejecting the implications of the whole way that the Anglican Communion is organized - with national Churches.  That is why they want to hold onto the title "The Episcopal Diocese" and the shield.  

The basic problem with all these groups who separate in protest is that the process is fissiparous - it leads to further division.  That is why you have the alphabet soup among the "Continuing Churches" - they cannot agree on something positive to base their collegiality on as what unites them is opposition to a body they dislike.  In time in this case they may come to realise that they have been hanging onto things which they have emptied of their real meaning, empty and worthless shells.  The sadness of it is that they are doing further damage to the Church's mission in diverting money and effort into this dispute rather than proclaiming the Gospel.
Roger
 


     On Tuesday, 16 June 2015, 0:41, Jay Weigel <jay.weigel at gmail.com> wrote:
   

 Why am I thinking of Gollum in a miter? "Mine! My precioussssssss!"

I should smack myself upside the head for my uncharitable thoughts, I guess.

On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 7:11 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> Chancellor of The Episcopal Church in SC, Thomas S. Tisdale recently
> presented a proposal for settlement of the litigation between Bishop Mark
> Lawrence’s Church and The Episcopal Church in SC (TECSC). This proposal
> offers the high road out of years of future legal fights and millions of
> dollars spent unnecessarily on litigation.
>
> Under this settlement, the two parties would have agreed to a compromise in
> which each releases claim to a portion of the contested property. In
> exchange for the real and personal property of 35 parishes involved in
> litigation, The Lawrence Church would have relinquished claim to diocesan
> property. TECSC would have received intellectual, real, and personal
> property of the Episcopal Diocese of SC. These separate Christian
> denominations would no longer be bound up in ugly litigation. This proposed
> settlement would have allowed each party to move forward out of litigious
> muck and to be the Church unencumbered by legal distractions.
>
> Alas, the Lawrence church has rejected the proposed settlement. How sad for
> all parties.
>
> Virginia C. Wilder
> Summerville, SC
>
>
> Read more here:
>
> Press Release on the Proposal:
>
> http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dc801ce41dd668e19fb3a3b7a&id=93b9e8a712&e=bfa235e9ac
>
>
> Response from Lawrence church: http://www.diosc.com/sys/index.php
>
>
> Ginga
>