Pennsylvania Supreme Court agrees to hear the case of St James the Less, Philadelphia
Special to The Christian Challenge
By The Rev. Charles H. Nalls
Canon Law Institute
Washington, DC
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has agreed to hear the appeal of the orthodox St. James the Less, Philadelphia, in its ongoing church property dispute with the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and its liberal bishop, Charles Bennison.
In a brief per curiam order September 24, the Court indicated that it will address two issues:
- Whether the lower court erred in deciding that St. James must turn over its property to the Diocese of Pennsylvania, particularly in light of an earlier opinion by the U.S. Supreme Court in Jones v. Wolf and the 1965 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in Presbytery of Beaver-Butler v. Middlesex Presbyterian Church.
- Whether the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution preclude the diocese from taking the property of St. James under state statute or under an Episcopal Church canon (the Dennis Cannon) to which the parish never agreed to be bound.
The Order marks a victory for the embattled parish, which lost an appellate court bid to keep its property from being seized by the diocese last October. In the initial appeal, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court decided the property case against St. James the Less in favor of diocese, although Presiding Judge Colins issued a robust dissent in favor of St. James and setting the stage for the current Supreme Court appeal.
In April 1999, St. James left its theologically hostile Episcopal diocese and the Episcopal Church (ECUSA) by a nearly unanimous vote and adopted independent status. After nearly two years, the diocese filed its 2001 lawsuit to force the congregation from its property. In March of 2003, Judge Joseph O'Keefe of the Court of Common Pleas' Orphan's Court division found for the diocese, invoking a 1935 state statute that he believed entitled Bishop Bennison and his standing committee to have control of St. James' property. The parish then appealed.
On October 7, 2003 the Commonwealth Court handed down a split decision in the litigation. The majority of the court affirmed the lower court's decision in favor of the diocese, although on different grounds. That decision would have required the congregation to turn over the property to the diocese, ending many years of ministry in its East Falls/Allegheny West neighborhood. Indeed, due to pending litigation with Bennison and the diocese, the parish was forced to close its acclaimed inner city school.
The granting of the appeal, which was discretionary for the Pennsylvania high court, is a hopeful sign for the orthodox congregation in the protracted court battle. As CLI and TCC previously reported, recent pro-parish property precedents in cases in other states, while not necessarily binding in Pennsylvania, provide a useful analytical framework for the court to address the issues in the St. James case.
The Rev. Charles H. Nalls is Executive Director of the Canon Law Institute in Washington, D.C.
Permission to circulate the foregoing electronically is granted, provided that there are no changes in the headings or text. THE CHRISTIAN CHALLENGE magazine is based in Washington, DC.
