The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the St.
James Anglican Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles. It is one of several dozen
individual parishes and four dioceses nationwide that voted to split from the
national church after the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal
bishop in New Hampshire.
California courts have
ruled that, while St. James had the right to split off from the larger church,
the congregation could not take parish property with it, even though the parish
has held the deed to the church for decades.
The Episcopal Church
has argued that its rules bar anyone from walking away with denomination
property, which often includes large endowments and land worth millions of
dollars. The conservatives who want to separate say they have spent years, even
decades, spending money to maintain and improve the buildings.
St. James is now
allied with an Anglican diocese in Uganda.
The case is St. James
Parish v. Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, 08-1579.