wfn.org | Judge extends deadline for Edwards to leave Accokeek parish

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-325

Judge extends deadline for Edwards to leave Accokeek parish

by Jan Nunley
jnunley@episcopalchurch.org

     (ENS) At the request of Washington bishop pro tempore Jane Holmes 
Dixon, a federal judge has given the Rev. Samuel L. Edwards a 22-day 
extension of an order to vacate the rectory of Christ Church and St. 
John's Parish in Accokeek, Maryland. Edwards and his family now have 
until November 30 to comply with the order.

     On November 7, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte amended his 
order of October 29, which directed Edwards to leave the rectory within 
10 days, so that Edwards and the parish's vestry will have time for an 
appeal to be heard in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, 
Virginia.

    "All along, Bishop Dixon has been concerned about the family, " 
said Canon Carter Echols, spokesperson for the Diocese of Washington. 
"She in fact told him not to come to Accokeek in the first place, because 
she wasn't going to approve his appointment."   

     "We could have packed our suitcases and got out, but this is a much 
more reasonable amount of time," Edwards told the Associated Press.  

     The change in the ruling does not include the portion in which the 
court ordered Edwards and the vestry to "take no actions, directly or 
indirectly" to hinder Dixon "or her delegate" in officiating at services 
and presiding at meetings of the vestry and parish, and prohibited Edwards 
from officiating "on or near" the grounds of the church and from taking 
any action in the capacity of rector of the parish.

Bishop's rights upheld

     Messitte's ruling upheld Dixon's right not to confirm Edwards' hiring 
as rector by the parish's vestry in December 2000. Edwards and the vestry 
claim that Dixon had 30 days to accept or reject Edwards' call to the parish

and missed the deadline. Dixon maintains that the 30-day provision refers 
only to the time period within which a bishop is required to communicate 
with the vestry concerning a priest's call prior to election as rector, 
as the canons state, but that there is no such time limit on a bishop's 
approving the results of an election.

     When Edwards and the vestry refused to recognize Dixon's canonical 
authority, even blocking her entry to the parish and threatening her in 
May with arrest on trespassing charges, Dixon filed suit seeking the 
court's help in enforcing her decision.

     In the suit, Dixon contended that Edwards' hiring violated the 1798 
Maryland Vestry Act, requiring that the appointment of rectors be subject 
to the canon law of the Episcopal Church. The suit also asserted that "all 
parish property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the diocese," 
while the vestry claimed it holds the deed in direct ownership with an 
unrestricted right to the property.

     Dixon's initial concerns about Edwards stemmed from his writings as 
executive director of the anti-women's ordination group 
Forward in Faith/North America (FiF/NA), in which he refers to Episcopal 
Church as ''hell-bound'' and the "UnChurch." She said she feared that if 
Edwards were allowed to function as a rector in the Washington diocese, 
he would attempt to lead a portion of the parish into schism and attempt 
to take its property out of the Episcopal Church.

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