wfn.org | Dispute over Episcopal Church name nearly resolved

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

99-2285 
Dispute over use of church's name moves towards resolution

by James Solheim
 (ENS) A long-running dispute over the use of the church's 
incorporated name appears to have moved towards settlement in the 
wake of a court decision in New Jersey.

A year after the two Episcopal dioceses in New Jersey filed 
suit in U.S. District Court in Newark against Bishop William 
Wantland of Eau Claire for forming a corporation in Wisconsin 
called the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, Inc., the suit 
was settled with an agreement that the defendants would cease use 
of the name in any form. The Stipulation and Consent Order was 
signed January 5 by U.S. District Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, the 
same judge who sent former treasurer Ellen Cooke to jail for 
embezzling church funds.

Bishop John Spong of Newark was joined by Bishop Joe Doss of 
New Jersey in a January 29, 1998 suit claiming that Wantland and 
the corporation he formed in a number of states, including New 
Jersey, was engaged in "willful and deliberate" activities 
"designed specifically to trade upon the enormous good will 
associated" with the Episcopal Church. "Our concern was the use 
of the name of the church created a great danger of confusion and, 
ultimately, schism," Michael Rehill, chancellor of the Diocese of 
Newark, told a reporter after the suit was settled.

Under the terms of the order, PECUSA, Inc. cannot "use any 
promotional and informational materials or brochures bearing the 
words The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of 
America or The Episcopal Church or the acronym PECUSA, Inc. or 
PECUSA or any other use of the words Protestant and Episcopal 
together in the State of New Jersey." As part of the settlement 
agreement, the New Jersey dioceses waived all claims for damages 
against Wantland and the corporation. 

PECUSA, Inc. was quietly incorporated in at least 45 states 
and it is not yet clear what will happen in those states in the 
wake of announced intentions of changing the corporation's name.
Abandoning the faith?

The church was founded in 1789 as the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the USA, but the name was never incorporated. In 1846 
the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church in the USA was incorporated in New York State. 
Anglo-Catholics have pressed since 1837 to have "Protestant" removed
from the name and in 1964 the General Convention added a preamble
to the church's constitution stating that the name of the church is "The
Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, otherwise known as The
Episcopal Church.."

When challenged in December of 1997 by former Presiding 
Bishop Edmond Browning with "an unauthorized and misleading 
effort" which "violates the church's right and need to protect 
its name from misleading and unfair use," Wantland said that was 
not the intent. He claimed in a statement that "the national 
church had begun to remove from the Church Constitution all 
references to the old title.. As the old name was abandoned, so 
the old faith was abandoned." Browning asked Wantland to 
dismantle the corporation but Wantland refused.

In his statement following the settlement, Wantland repeated 
his assertion that the corporation was originally formed in August 
1996 "to insure that there always remains in the United States a 
church which is `a constituent member of the Anglican Communion.. 
Upholding and propagating the historic faith and order.'" The 
purpose, he said, was "to establish a network which would enable 
orthodox organizations within the American Church to work 
together, standing upon a secure place rooted in the classic 
Anglican Tradition."

Lambeth changes situation
On January 20, 1998 the trustees of the corporation 
determined that it "does not see its own existence to be a long-
term matter" and would probably not be needed after Lambeth, 
Wantland's statement said. At a meeting last September 2, a few 
weeks after this summer's Lambeth Conference ended, the trustees 
met again and determined that the aims of the corporation had 
changed and that the current structure and name "were no longer 
appropriate for the corporation's work," according to Wantland's 
statement.

Resolutions at the Lambeth Conference affirmed the church's 
traditional understanding of sexual morality, calling homosexual 
activity "contrary to Scripture," and said that bishops opposed 
to the ordination of women should not be coerced into accepting 
their ministry. Both issues were crucial to the formation of 
PECUSA, Inc. "We feel everything we stand for was vindicated at 
Lambeth," Wantland told a reporter.

"The trustees voted to change the name of the 
corporation," but felt they could not move ahead without settling 
the lawsuit. So they instructed the corporation's attorneys to 
"settle the lawsuit so that the corporation could get on with its 
long-range plans," Wantland said. 

The statement added that the trustees expected to "work 
toward the formation of an orthodox Anglican Province in the 
United States, either by the reformation of the present 
institution of the Episcopal Church, if possible, or by the 
establishment of an orthodox Province apart from the present 
institutional structure, if necessary."

Traditionalists in the Episcopal Church have been pressing 
for a separate province to protect their interests for a decade 
but Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has said publicly that 
he will recognize only one province in the United States-the 
Episcopal Church.

--James Solheim is director of the Office of News and Information 
of the Episcopal Church.

Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
(212) 922-5383
Kmccormick@dfms.org
www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens