By Ron Orozco Three (Fresno) Valley Presbyterian churches have finalized their divorce from the nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination, citing differences over the Bible’s supreme authority and the possible ordination of gays. But unlike the split within the Valley’s Episcopal diocese, which turned into a bitter court fight, the three congregations are leaving on friendly terms.... Continue Reading

A years-long, multimillion-dollar land battle between the Episcopal Church in Virginia and conservatives who broke away from the denomination is headed back into court. The Virginia Supreme Court said Wednesday that it would hear an appeal by the Episcopal diocese of Virginia and the national church, which lost in Fairfax Circuit Court last year. Read... Continue Reading

By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Episcopal Church (USA) lawyers who sue congregations for their property can call on a special counsel. He is Saint Ives, named by the denomination as the patron saint of lawyers. In his honor, ECUSA has allocated a $3 million line item in its budget to pay legal fees.

The Presbyterian Lay Committee on July 27, 2009 filed a friend of the court brief with the U. S. Supreme Court on behalf of St James Parish in Newport Beach, Calif., following a California Supreme Court ruling that awarded the congregation’s property to its former denomination, The Episcopal Church. The PLC brief argues that the... Continue Reading

  Christian Newswire—Judge Randy Bellows of the Fairfax County Circuit Court on Friday, June 27, 2008, issued a second ruling in favor of the Virginia churches that have departed the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia by recognizing the constitutionality of the Virginia Statute on Religious Division, Va. Code 57-9(A). Bellows had already ruled in April that... Continue Reading