NEW YEAR, OLD SCHISM

Happy New Year, blog reader. It is indeed a new year, even a new decade. It is 2020 Anno Domini. 

Unfortunately, the schism of the Episcopal Church in lower South Carolina is not new. It is old. The break officially occurred on October 15, 2012. We are now in the eighth year of the separation. The first lawsuit in the schism happened on January 4, 2013. On that day, the secessionists entered a suit in state court against the Episcopal Church essentially for possession of the diocese and all that that entailed. Thus, in a few days, we will enter the eighth year of the legal war between the two sets of former friends. We know all too well the human and financial costs of this still unresolved war. The schism and its ensuing legal war is nothing less than a terrible scandal that will be forever engraved on the memory of the church in South Carolina.

So, where do we stand now after all that has gone on in the seven-plus years? What might the new year hold? This is a convenient moment to look at both of these questions.

Where we stand now is that everything has changed and nothing has changed. Let me explain. Everything has changed in that the Episcopal Church has won in court. In the state court it has regained ownership of 29 of the 36 parishes,  involved in the lawsuit, plus Camp St. Christopher. In the federal court, the Episcopal Church has won recognition as an hierarchical religious institution entitled to govern itself, and the Episcopal diocese of South Carolina has regained the legal rights to the historic diocese. Thus, the Episcopal Church has won a sweeping victory in court on both local and national issues.

And yet, nothing has changed. The ADSC officers have refused to recognize the SCSC decision. The 29 parishes are still occupied by the separatist clergy. Not one has been returned to the Episcopal bishop. In addition, the properties and other assets of the historic diocese are still in possession of the secessionist officers even though the federal court declared they belong to the Episcopal diocese. They show no sign of giving up any of it. The most galling of all is that the dissident bishop still resides in the Episcopal bishop's residence legally owned by the Episcopal diocese. The house, at 50 Smith Street, Charleston, is valued by Zillow.com and Realtor.com at $1,300,000, and both estimated rent would be $5,280/month. If the Episcopal diocese would charge rent to Mark Lawrence for his 87 months of occupation, he would get a bill of $435,000. He has lived in this 6 bedroom house virtually rent free ($1/yr.) for all this time.

What can we expect to happen in the life of the schism in the year 2020? I expect this to be a very eventful year. The big issues have already been settled. What we are awaiting now is the putting into effect of these decisions. 

In the federal court, the disassociated diocese (calling itself the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina) is appealing several issues to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which sits in Richmond, Virginia. ADSC has already filed two motions with this Court, to stay Judge Richard Gergel's Order of September 19, 2019 and to stay the case altogether until the United States Supreme Court decides the pending case of Booking.com. SCOTUS is expected to issue a decision on Booking.com by June of 2020. Chances are strong that the Court of Appeals will deny ADSC's two motions and will do so soon.

ADSC is also about to enter a brief in the appeal of Judge Gergel's decision of 19 September 2019 in the Court of Appeals. EDSC will then file a response. This should be done by March of 2020. Chances are very strong that the Court of Appeals will uphold Judge Gergel's decision. If Appeals does reject ADSC's appeal, this will end the matter in federal court and the Episcopal Church will have won an enormously important victory: the Episcopal Church is hierarchical, and the Church diocese in South Carolina is the sole legal heir and owner of the assets of the historic diocese. I fully expect this to happen by the end of this year. That will end the federal issues.

The state is another matter. As we all know, Judge Edgar Dickson is in charge of the state case and has done virtually nothing on it for the two years he has had it on his desk. His job is to implement the South Carolina Supreme Court decision of August 2, 2017 which recognized Episcopal Church ownership of 29 parishes and the Camp. He has not done that.

However, things may be changing soon. In his last hearing, on 26 November 2019, Judge Dickson asked the two sides to present proposed orders on ADSC's motion for clarification of jurisdiction. This motion asked the court to declare that the 29 parishes own their property, not the Episcopal Church. This, of course, is directly contradictory of the SCSC order. The ADSC side submitted its proposed order to Judge Dickson on Dec. 23. If the EDSC lawyers have not entered their proposed order, they will do so momentarily. Then, Dickson will probably issue a decision soon on ADSC's motion for clarification. Basically, he has to decide whether to implement the SCSC decision or not. Either way, his decision is certain to be appealed to the South Carolina Court of Appeals, in Columbia. It is unimaginable that Appeals would discard a decision of the SCSC, particularly one finalized by denial of rehearing and denial of cert by SCOTUS. There is virtually no chance Appeals would wind up awarding the properties to the disassociated diocese. That would be in direct contradiction of the SCSC decision and would upend the whole established judicial structure in which a decision of the supreme court is the final and unalterable law of the land.

It appears today as if there is a good chance that the state court matters could be resolved in the year 2020. This would not mean, however, that the Church would regain the churches right away. There would still have to be an orderly transfer of property under a Special Master while an accounting firm would make a thorough audit of the assets.

So, once again, the big issues of the schism have been settled, almost all on the side of the Episcopal Church. The court decisions of 2019 were crucial in this. We now know that what the leaders of the diocese told the faithful before the schism was not true. They said the Episcopal Church was not hierarchical but that the diocese was sovereign and independent and could leave the Episcopal Church as it wished. This was not true. They also told the people they could leave the Episcopal Church and take their local property with them. This was not true. The pre-schism diocesan leadership misinformed and misled the majority of the faithful. The people have paid dearly for this. I estimate the two sides have spent $10m on the litigation. What did the people who went along with the schism get for their money? Six parishes and a new "diocese" that owns nothing but what it has acquired since Oct. 15, 2012. Mark Lawrence will turn 70 years old in March. Where the "Anglican Diocese of South Carolina" goes from here is an open question. Big changes are coming, probably this year, and none of them will be good for the people who led this failed experiment. 

The Episcopal Church has survived. This in itself is a great accomplishment. One should recall that the original goal of the anti-Episcopal Church movement in the 1990's was the destruction or severe diminution of the Episcopal Church. It was a conservative counter-revolution against the democratic reforms enacted by the Episcopal Church, most notably equality for and inclusion of women and open homosexuals in the life of the church. The Church's survival is a victory in itself. However, the Church not only survived, it thrived in lower South Carolina. It has grown in membership and strength every year since the break, now at 22% rise. On the other hand, the schismatic diocese has lost a third of its communicant number since the schism and continues to lose people every year. There is no reason to believe this downward trajectory will not continue.

Thus, the great battles of the schism are over but there remains a great deal of mop-up work to be done. We should all be confident that much of this will be done in the year 2020. As of today, all signs indicate that the events of the next twelve months will go a long way toward bringing an end to the legal war and more importantly bringing closure, peace and healing to the most traumatic event in the life of the church in South Carolina since the Civil War. 

My best wishes to you and yours in this new year.

Ron Caldwell