Bill Would Allow Courts To Have Say Over Church Property In Event Of Doctrinal Schism

A Texas state legislator has introduced a bill which appears to be geared toward addressing property issues resulting from the succession of former congregations of the The General Convention Of The Episcopal Church in the United States over the ordination of openly gay clergy. 

The legislation, House Bill 729 by State Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), would direct Texas courts to divide church property “in a manner that the court considers just and right.” 

The bill is narrowly crafted only to apply to schisms as a result of doctrinal differences and then only to divisions that result in a unit of an organized denomination’s church or diocese seceding from its ultimate ruling body.

Although evidently geared to address the property concerns of Episcopal Churches who have abandoned the Anglican Communion or the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the U.S., the bill is drafted to apply to any religious organization that qualifies as such under the Texas Tax Code so long as the religious organization is organized “into orders or ranks each subordinate to the one above it,” and specifically mentions churches, synagogues, and mosques.

Last September, the Episcopal Diocese Of Fort Worth voted to separate from The General Convention Of The Episcopal Church in The United States and realign with the Province Of The Southern Cone, a unit of the Anglican Communion based in South America. Two of the church’s three largest parishes, however, however, elected to remain with the Episcopal Church. 

The departures of various diocese and churches from the General Convention has led to a number of lawsuits related to church property which have resulted in a variety of verdicts around the nation. Going back to 1993, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that local Episcopal parishioners could not keep property held in the name of their parish because of the relationship between the individual parishes and the diocese. The court ruled that the relationship constituted a legally enforceable trust in favor of the general church and not the parish. Last December, a trial court in Virginia, however, allowed 11 formerly Episcopalian congregations to keep parish property after a split from the general church to form the Anglican District of Virginia. The Episcopal Church has appealed that decision. 

And, early this year the California State Supreme Court ruled that former congregations could not keep local parish property even though the local church’s names were on property deeds for years. 

At stake could potentially be hundreds of millions–if not billions–of dollars worth of property and endowments depending upon how many Episcopal churches in Texas ultimately leave the General Convention. 

Cook’s bill and its “just and right” language could likely work in favor of local parishes wanting to keep their own property. In spite of the fact that agreements between a parish and diocese or diocese and the General Convention place property in the trust of the General Convention, a court, under Cook’s bill, could easily set that aside by determining that a “just and right” distribution favors the local parishioners given that their funds and work built and maintained the facilities.