THE THREE WARDENS
On June 23, 2018, the Charleston Post and Courier published a letter to the editor from the wardens of St. Philip's (Penn Hagood), St. Michael's (Heidi Ravenel), and St. Luke and St. Paul (Todd Lant). Unfortunately, the wardens are wrong on many levels and just as disappointing. They have failed in their duty to represent the best interest of the people of their parishes.
Much of what the wardens said in their letter is flatly untrue. Much of it is simply wishful thinking. All of it is misinformed.
The point of the letter was to promote in the public mind the diocese's talking point that the South Carolina Supreme Court decision of Aug. 2, 2017, was no decision, has no validity, and cannot be enforced. Therefore, the DSC will go on as before with the 29 parishes in question. The Episcopal Church will not regain the buildings. This is all wrong.
Much of what the wardens said in their letter is flatly untrue. Much of it is simply wishful thinking. All of it is misinformed.
The point of the letter was to promote in the public mind the diocese's talking point that the South Carolina Supreme Court decision of Aug. 2, 2017, was no decision, has no validity, and cannot be enforced. Therefore, the DSC will go on as before with the 29 parishes in question. The Episcopal Church will not regain the buildings. This is all wrong.
The three wardens wrote:
Among the five separate opinions, promulgated after two years of wrangling, there is no majority legal opinion.
WRONG. On the last two pages of the decision, former chief justice Toal laid out precisely and concisely the four majority opinions of the court.
1-the 8 parishes that are not under TEC trust control.
2-the 28 parishes that are under TEC trust control.
3-Camp St. Christopher is under control of TEC/TECSC.
4-the control of the entity of the pre-schism diocese will be settled by the federal court.
These were the majority decisions of the court. They could not have been any clearer. The wardens would be wise to reread the SCSC decision, or last least the last two pages in which Toal very neatly explained the majority decisions.
The wardens' assertion that "there is no majority legal opinion" is ridiculous on its face.
The conflicts of interpretation among the five opinions are significant.
How the justices arrived at their conclusions does not matter at this point. Their reasoning is not the issue. The issue is what opinion they produced. As I have shown in my last few blog pieces, there was 80% agreement among the justices that the Dennis Canon had gone into effect in SC. Moreover, there was unanimous opinion that 28 parishes had acceded to the Dennis Canon and 8 had not. The judges' reasonings behind their conclusions are irrelevant at this point. It is the majority opinion that matters. It is the law.
One key example illustrates this well. In the deciding opinion on the parish property issue, Chief Justice Don Beatty said only parishes that acceded in writing to the Dennis Canon created a trust. None of our parishes signed such a document.
WRONG. As I said, all five justices, including Toal who really agreed with the DSC lawyers on property and corporate rights, said that 28 of the 36 parishes in question had in fact acceded to the Dennis Canon. They all referred to documents they had in hand. There was absolutely no doubt in the minds of all five justices that the 28 parishes had adhered to the Dennis Canon. Surely the three wardens would not want to insult the judges of the state's highest court by calling them liars.
What the ruling says is that no congregation should lose their property.
WRONG. That is most definitely not what the ruling says. As we have seen, the court very clearly said that 28 parishes are under control of the Episcopal Church. What I suspect is a word game with "should lose." This is a conditional term suggesting opinion. Our opinions about the decision are irrelevant now. The SCSC decision is the law of the land.
This is one of the many difficulties that must still be settled by a state court.
WRONG. The only thing left to be settled by a state court is precisely how the SCSC decision is to be carried out. The decision itself is final. It is law. It cannot be ignored, altered, or challenged. Everyone knows how our court system works. The DSC side, however, can throw up temporary roadblocks; and that is exactly what they are trying to do here.
Altogether, the three wardens are only parroting what they have been told by the diocesan authorities. I suspect they have not read the SCSC decision. They are simply repeating the FAQs issued by the diocesan office. This is disappointing but not surprising given the history of this schism.
Wardens are the lay authorities of the parish. It is their responsibility to take care of the parish, in the interest of the parishioners. It is not their job to obey blindly the will of the clergy. They represent the parish, not the clergy of the diocese.
These three wardens should recognize by this point how the parishes have been misused by the small group of conspirators who made the schism in SC. They forced on the parishes a commitment to the schism, bound them in the lawsuits against TEC, left them with double lawyer bills, and misled them to believe they would achieve great things in litigation. The result has been the exact opposite. The DSC leaders even turned down a generous offer from TEC to give the parishes independence and the property. After all this, one would think the wardens would get the message of how the DSC leadership had misled and misused the parishes.
Memo to the three wardens:
All three of your parishes are now, as they have been, under the trust control of the Episcopal Church. This is the legal reality. They are in fact parishes of the Episcopal Church in the eyes of the law. The high court of SC has confirmed this in no uncertain terms. It is just a matter of time before the Episcopal Church bishop regains control of these parishes. If you really want to serve your people, you should recognize the reality of this, tell your people the truth of what has happened in the courts, and prepare them for the inevitable. If you and they wish to leave the buildings of the Episcopal Church, that is your right. But, it is not your right to say who controls the buildings, and you are are not serving your people well by misinforming them now. I urge you to read the SCSC decision of Aug. 2, 2017. You owe it to yourselves. Mostly, you owe it to your people.
3-Camp St. Christopher is under control of TEC/TECSC.
4-the control of the entity of the pre-schism diocese will be settled by the federal court.
These were the majority decisions of the court. They could not have been any clearer. The wardens would be wise to reread the SCSC decision, or last least the last two pages in which Toal very neatly explained the majority decisions.
The wardens' assertion that "there is no majority legal opinion" is ridiculous on its face.
The conflicts of interpretation among the five opinions are significant.
How the justices arrived at their conclusions does not matter at this point. Their reasoning is not the issue. The issue is what opinion they produced. As I have shown in my last few blog pieces, there was 80% agreement among the justices that the Dennis Canon had gone into effect in SC. Moreover, there was unanimous opinion that 28 parishes had acceded to the Dennis Canon and 8 had not. The judges' reasonings behind their conclusions are irrelevant at this point. It is the majority opinion that matters. It is the law.
One key example illustrates this well. In the deciding opinion on the parish property issue, Chief Justice Don Beatty said only parishes that acceded in writing to the Dennis Canon created a trust. None of our parishes signed such a document.
WRONG. As I said, all five justices, including Toal who really agreed with the DSC lawyers on property and corporate rights, said that 28 of the 36 parishes in question had in fact acceded to the Dennis Canon. They all referred to documents they had in hand. There was absolutely no doubt in the minds of all five justices that the 28 parishes had adhered to the Dennis Canon. Surely the three wardens would not want to insult the judges of the state's highest court by calling them liars.
What the ruling says is that no congregation should lose their property.
WRONG. That is most definitely not what the ruling says. As we have seen, the court very clearly said that 28 parishes are under control of the Episcopal Church. What I suspect is a word game with "should lose." This is a conditional term suggesting opinion. Our opinions about the decision are irrelevant now. The SCSC decision is the law of the land.
This is one of the many difficulties that must still be settled by a state court.
WRONG. The only thing left to be settled by a state court is precisely how the SCSC decision is to be carried out. The decision itself is final. It is law. It cannot be ignored, altered, or challenged. Everyone knows how our court system works. The DSC side, however, can throw up temporary roadblocks; and that is exactly what they are trying to do here.
Altogether, the three wardens are only parroting what they have been told by the diocesan authorities. I suspect they have not read the SCSC decision. They are simply repeating the FAQs issued by the diocesan office. This is disappointing but not surprising given the history of this schism.
Wardens are the lay authorities of the parish. It is their responsibility to take care of the parish, in the interest of the parishioners. It is not their job to obey blindly the will of the clergy. They represent the parish, not the clergy of the diocese.
These three wardens should recognize by this point how the parishes have been misused by the small group of conspirators who made the schism in SC. They forced on the parishes a commitment to the schism, bound them in the lawsuits against TEC, left them with double lawyer bills, and misled them to believe they would achieve great things in litigation. The result has been the exact opposite. The DSC leaders even turned down a generous offer from TEC to give the parishes independence and the property. After all this, one would think the wardens would get the message of how the DSC leadership had misled and misused the parishes.
Memo to the three wardens:
All three of your parishes are now, as they have been, under the trust control of the Episcopal Church. This is the legal reality. They are in fact parishes of the Episcopal Church in the eyes of the law. The high court of SC has confirmed this in no uncertain terms. It is just a matter of time before the Episcopal Church bishop regains control of these parishes. If you really want to serve your people, you should recognize the reality of this, tell your people the truth of what has happened in the courts, and prepare them for the inevitable. If you and they wish to leave the buildings of the Episcopal Church, that is your right. But, it is not your right to say who controls the buildings, and you are are not serving your people well by misinforming them now. I urge you to read the SCSC decision of Aug. 2, 2017. You owe it to yourselves. Mostly, you owe it to your people.
