Thursday, September 5, 2013

Bishop Iker to 815: Just a Suggestion -- Read St. Paul Lately?

A timely message from Bishop Iker, regarding the ongoing church litigation in Texas:








LIVING WITH LITIGATION        


Living with litigation has become a way of life for us as members of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. For the past 4 ½ years, we have been under the cloud of a lawsuit brought against us by The Episcopal Church and its local supporters, seeking to deprive us of our buildings and assets. This has been a huge distraction from our focus on spreading the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and making new disciples for the Kingdom of God.  What a relief and a blessing it was to have the Texas Supreme Court overturn the trial court judgment against us on August 30. So now we head back to the local court for a reconsideration of the dispute – based this time upon neutral principles of law, and under this methodology we are confident we will prevail.  Life goes on – the litigation continues – and we learn again how important it is to trust in the Lord in the midst of distractions and threats to our security.

The national leadership of TEC has misguided and misled local Episcopalians by encouraging them to support its litigation strategy, which sought to undermine the laws of the State of Texas regarding property, trusts and corporations. They advised people to leave their local churches following the separation of the Diocese from TEC in November 2008 and to claim that they had been denied access to these churches.  Nothing could be further from the truth. No one has ever been asked to leave their church, and our services are open to all. Those who now wish to return to our fellowship will find an eager welcome.

We regret that millions of dollars have been spent on legal fees by both sides. All of this could have been avoided in an amicable separation process as provided for by the Diocese for any congregation that wished to remain in TEC.  This was accomplished in the case of three churches by a simple transfer of property title to the local congregations. However, TEC insisted on blocking further transfers and sued for everything, resulting in a long, protracted process of litigation. But now the end is in sight.

The Dennis Canon is dead in Texas. Corporations are authorized to control their own decisions and affairs without the interference of third parties. That’s the law. Perhaps in light of these rulings by our Supreme Court, those who have sued us and sought to deprive us of our property might see the wisdom of terminating their continued use of the courts contrary to 1 Cor. 6:1-7. Let’s get on with the mission of the Church and apply our limited resources to advancing the Kingdom of Christ rather than to continued litigation.

The Rt. Rev. Jack Leo Iker
Bishop of Fort Worth
September 5, 2013

 

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So  if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. 

                                                                                                            1 Cor. 6:1-7

6 comments:

  1. I love Bishop Iker, who confirmed me years ago when I lived in Texas. I know he is tired of this and ready to move on.

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  2. (sarc on)

    815 to Iker,

    "Yes we did but through corrective lenses."

    (sarc off)

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  3. FYI: From: http://www.judici.com/courts/cases/case_history.jsp?court=IL001025J&ocl=IL001025J,2009MR31,IL001025JL2009MR31CD5

    Findings, Opinion And Order filed. The Court finds in favor of DOQ on it's complaint for declaratory relief and against TEC and EDQ on their counterclaim for declaratory relief. See Order for details.

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  4. Thanks for the link, Mike R. I had received the decision by email earlier this morning, and am preparing an analysis of it for posting along with the full text of the order later today. The long and short of it is: great news for the Diocese of Quincy, and not so great for 815. The judge did a superb job of analyzing the facts and the law.

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  5. The Supreme Court remanded the matter to the original trial court - and it might behoove you, ASH, to read the minority opinion which has a very thoughtful alternative perspective, albeit one not in accord with the sentiments of most folks posting here.

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  6. SFiC, I did read the minority opinion, and it's all about their belief that Court should not have accepted the direct appeal. If you had read my post on the decision and how it relates to the 7-2 opinion in the Masterson case, you might understand how the "minority" in the Ft. Worth case agrees with the application of "neutral principles" in subsequent proceedings. They sent the case back to Judge Chupp so that he could apply those principles in the first instance.

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