wfn.org | Washington bishop files suit in dispute over Maryland parish

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-172

Washington bishop files suit in dispute over Maryland parish

by Jan Nunley
jnunley@episcopalchurch.org

     (ENS) Washington's bishop pro tempore Jane Dixon filed suit June 25 in U.S. 
District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, asking that a federal judge prohibit the 
Rev. Samuel L. Edwards from officiating at Christ Church and St. John's Parish in 
Accokeek and prohibit the vestry from barring her from "ministering to the 
congregation and performing episcopal acts there." 

     "I am deeply saddened that the actions of Fr. Edwards and the vestry have 
made it necessary to bring this suit," Dixon wrote in a letter to clergy and lay 
leaders of the diocese. "The members of Christ Church are both my ecclesiastical 
responsibility and my personal concern…This suit is necessary to ensure that all 
the members of St. John's Parish will again feel welcome to worship there."

     The suit asks the court to declare Edwards' contract with the parish 
invalid, contending that the hiring over the objections of the bishop violates 
the 1798 Maryland Vestry Act, requiring that the appointment of rectors be 
subject to the canon law of the Episcopal Church. The suit also asserts that "all 
parish property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the diocese," while 
the vestry claims it holds the deed in fee simple," direct ownership with an 
unrestricted right to the property.

     The diocese's attorney, David M. Schnorrenberg, told the Washington Post 
that "Father Edwards has tried to turn the Episcopal Church into a 
Congregationalist church," he said, "and that's not what it is. . . . It's a 
church of bishops."

     Dixon's filing marks the first time the church has gone to court to contest 
the appointment of a rector, according to Schnorrenberg.

     On the day of the filing, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold wrote a letter to 
the bishops of the Episcopal Church reporting that he had been "unsuccessful in 
my extensive efforts to assist those involved in the matter regarding Christ 
Church."

     "I deeply regret that this is the case, and ask you to keep all parties in 
your prayers," Griswold concluded. "Meanwhile, my office and I continue to make 
ourselves available to explore any possibilities that may emerge in the future."

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of the Episcopal News Service.