Los Angeles, USA - The California Supreme Court decided unanimously today that churches that break away from a national denomination may not take the church assets with them.
In a ruling written by Justice Ming W. Chin, the state high court said the property of St. James Episcopal Church in Newport Beach is owned by the national church, not the congregation. The congregation split away after the national church ordained a gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as a bishop of New Hampshire, in 2003.
"When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it," Chin wrote for the court.
St. James was one of about 100 Episcopal parishes that broke off relations with the national church following Robinson's ordination. Disputes over the real estate landed in courts across the country.
California's ruling was in line with most other state courts that have ruled on similar church property fights. The ruling is expected to reach beyond the Episcopal Church and affect other denominations facing rebellious congregations.
It follows a decision last month by 700 conservative Episcopalian congregations to form a breakaway church in North America. The move, prompted in part by disputes over the role of gays in church life, is likely to trigger new disputes over church property.
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, has said that church buildings and other property claimed by breakaway parishes belong to the national church as "the product of legacies of generations before us."