WHAT NOW?

A common concern among people in both dioceses at this point is what is going to happen now that the SC Supreme Court has finally issued its "final" decision. We all know by now what was in the decision.

First, I am not a lawyer or legal expert and what I offer here is only opinion. I have not talked with any lawyers or officers of any diocese, so I speak here only for myself. Having said that, here is my take on what is going to happen.

In the short run, nothing will change. The litigation is not over, either in state or federal court. The long run is a different matter.

STATE COURT. In my understanding, both sides will be given an opportunity to ask for a rehearing before the SCSC. I doubt that either side will do that. However, if one or both sides do ask for a rehearing, a majority of the justices would have to agree to it. Since the April 20 ruling was unanimous, I cannot believe three or more of the justices would agree to a rehearing. They are glad to get rid of this radioactive problem and certainly do not want to revisit it.

On the breakaway side, surely the big Charleston parishes would not want to jeopardize their gains by going back to the SCSC. St. Philip's and St. Michael's have just been awarded countless millions of dollars worth of the most valuable real estate in South Carolina. The big and powerful parishes have what they want. They will own the property without the possibility that the Episcopal Church would ever regain it. They have to be elated at the SCSC decision.

Likewise, if the Episcopal side asks for a rehearing, they would be jeopardizing the 14 parishes they have been awarded. Half a loaf is better than the none of Judge Dickson's order.

So, I doubt seriously that either side will ask for a rehearing before the SCSC. Even if they do, I doubt seriously the court would grant it. Therefore, it is all but certain the 20 April decision is the final disposition of the properties.

However, either side could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The chance SCOTUS would take it is virtually non-existent. That court has made it abundantly clear it will not touch Episcopal Church cases. On the breakaway side, there would be an advantage in applying for cert in that it would devour months of time before implementation of the SCSC decision. Deny and delay have been the guiding strategies of the secessionists for years. 

If there is no rehearing, and neither appeals to SCOTUS, the 20 April decision is final and awaiting implementation.

Implementation---there is a big problem. The SCSC would issue a Remittitur to the circuit court. One would expect this time the SCSC to be explicit about what they wish the lower court to do (as opposed to 2017). However, even if they are explicit, it will be up to the circuit court judge (Edgar Dickson) to actually carry out the order. He could take his own sweet time. Considering that he spent two and a half years dragging out this case (2017-2020) before finally issuing his order (most of which was overturned by SCSC), what would keep him from doing the same again, or taking even longer? He is looking at retirement soon. So, it is impossible to know how long the Remittitur will languish in the circuit before it is actually implemented and the Episcopal diocese gets its property back. It could be years.

FEDERAL COURT. The Anglican diocese has appealed U.S. District Court Judge Richard Gergel's 2019 decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals, in Richmond. This case concerned the ownership of the pre-schism diocese (not the local parishes which was the subject of the state court lawsuit). Gergel ruled that the Episcopal Church was hierarchical and that the Episcopal diocese was the only heir of the old diocese. He said the breakaways had formed a new organization that had no claim to the pre-schism diocese. He even issued an Injunction forbidding the breakaways from claiming to be in any way the historic diocese. It is this decision the Anglican contingent has appealed to the Court of Appeals.

In my opinion, there is virtually no chance the appeals court will overturn the Gergel decision. Gergel is a brilliant judge who has written a brilliant decision. I am all but certain the appeals court will affirm Gergel. 

What then? I suppose the breakaways could appeal to SCOTUS, but once again, there is virtually no chance the high court would take the case. And again, the only advantage of an appeal would be to devour months of time before actually handing over the entity of the diocese that the breakaways have controlled for a very long time.

On the issue of who owns the old diocese, I think it is all but settled in favor of the Episcopal side; however, it could be a year, or more, before the Church could actually start to repossess the assets. Since the secessionists have controlled the assets of the old diocese for so long, I cannot imagine the difficulty of making an accounting of everything involved. That alone is bound to require a long time, if it is even possible. At least the ready tangibles as the Camp and the bishop's residence should be relatively easy to repossess.

Another issue I have raised before is the disposition of the 11, or so, local churches that were not in the lawsuit but remain in the breakaway diocese. Will the Episcopal side go to court claiming ownership under the Dennis Canon? This will be for the diocesan and national authorities to decide. However, since the SCSC has already set the precedent that a local church must clearly accede to the Dennis Canon, the Church side would have to produce documentation on each local church to show accession. This would have to be on a case by case basis, as it was with the 36 parishes in question. So, it remains an open question of whether the Church side will attempt to repossess these churches that were outside of the lawsuit. As of now, they are all parts of the Anglican diocese.

In sum, one should not expect anything to change right away. In the next few months I think we will see the SCSC decision being sent down to Judge Dickson and the U.S. appeals court ruling on the appeal. After that will come the implementation of 1-the SCSC decision, and 2-Gergel's order. I expect this phase to take quite a while; and I expect the Anglican side to throw up every roadblock imaginable to delay the inevitable. They have a track record of this.

When the dust finally settles, the Episcopal diocese will hold the legal entity of the historic diocese and all of its assets including Camp St. Christopher along with nearly half the local churches. The secessionists will hold most of the local churches, including all of the large parishes (except for the largest of them all, Grace Church, of Charleston). They will have to create a new diocesan apparatus, that is, unless they melt into the ACNA Diocese of the Carolinas, led by Bishop Steve Wood.

So, in the end, three major assertions the old diocesan leaders assured the people, before the schism, would happen did not, in fact, happen: 1-the diocese could leave the Episcopal Church intact. The federal court disproved this. 2-the local churches would own their own property regardless of what they had done about the Dennis Canon. The SC Supreme Court disproved this. 3-the diocese could leave TEC and remain "Anglican." In fact, when it left TEC it also left the Anglican Communion. It joined the Anglican Church in North America which is Anglican in name only. It is not now and certainly never will be in the Anglican Communion.

This is not to say the schismatics lost on every front, not at all. They removed most of the local Episcopal churches in lower South Carolina from the Episcopal Church. Most of all, they joined like-minded people to oppose the human rights of homosexuals and women. This is a considerable gain for the social reactionaries in the contemporary American culture war, which is what this schism has always been about.