CHURCH OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD ASKS SCSC FOR REHEARING

The Church of the Good Shepherd, in West Ashley, Charleston, has asked the South Carolina Supreme Court for rehearing and reconsideration of its petition before the court. On 1 September 2022, the church's lawyer filed "Petition for Rehearing" with the SCSC holding that the parish's accession language predated 1979. The court has held that a parish's accession to or adoption of the Dennis Canon must have occurred between 1979, the date of the Canon, and 2006. State law changed in 2006 allowing trusts made after that time to be revocable. The lawyer for Good Shepherd declared the parish had adopted its accession language in 1977.

The SCSC has ruled three times that Good Shepherd belongs to the Episcopal Church: 2 August 2017, 20 April 2022, 17 August 2022. The court has never ruled otherwise.

This means there are now three outstanding petitions before the SCSC in the wake of the August 17 order. On September 1, 2022, the Episcopal lawyers filed two papers with the SCSC: Motion for Relief from Judgment and Petition for Rehearing. Both of these asked the court to reverse its order on Old Saint Andrew's and Holy Cross (Stateburg). The Church claimed that both of these adopted to or acceded to the Dennis Cannon between 1979 and 2006. 

As I understand it, the justices of the SCSC can hold another hearing or issue orders on the three petitions now before them. The SCSC has already held two hearings and published three (different and contradictory) decisions on this case. How many more there will be is anyone's guess. The only thing we have really learned from this court is that there is no finality on the issue of the ownership of the local parishes. Curiously enough it was the reverse on the issue of the entity of the pre-schism diocese. On this the court has consistently ruled in favor of the Episcopal diocese. So, finality on the parishes eludes the justices while finality on the diocese was clear. 

One factor to consider suggesting the possibility of another hearing and/or order is that the court has not issued a Remittitur on its August 17 order. This would be a directive to the circuit court to implement the order. The court did publish a Remittitur after their April decision but then revoked part of it when they issued their third order on 17 August.

What happens next with this court? God only knows.