The settlement Friday of a local Episcopal church's lawsuit against Pittsburgh Bishop Robert W. Duncan Jr. upholds current church law that parish and diocesan property belong to the denomination.

The 2-year-old lawsuit in Common Pleas Court, filed by Calvary Episcopal Church, its rector and senior warden, and later joined by two other plaintiffs, affirmed Episcopal Church canon that property is held for and administered by the denomination and cannot be taken outside the church without appropriate consent.

Friday's "amicable agreement" was between Bishop Duncan, his assistant bishop and various members of the diocese's standing committee and board of trustees, and Calvary, St. Stephen's Church of Wilkinsburg and a member of St. Stephen's in Sewickley.

The suit had evolved in response to several resolutions passed at a special diocesan convention two years ago. Calvary's rector, the Rev. Dr. Harold T. Lewis, and others, believed those resolutions defied the national church and flouted current canon law.

The most controversial of the resolutions, Resolution No. 6, called for releasing control of church property to individual parishes.

The Pittsburgh Diocese's special convention had been called after the confirmation as bishop that summer of an openly gay priest, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, at the denomination's triennial convention.

Calvary's lawsuit was not filed against the diocese but on its behalf through a legal procedure known as ad litem. It allows members of an unincorporated association -- in this case, the diocese --to assert the need for compliance with the association's constitution and laws.

"I think to call it a landmark case is not an exaggeration," said Dr. Lewis, who initially filed the complaint "to preserve and protect the unity and integrity of the property" of the national church, the Pittsburgh diocese and parishes, missions and other institutions and organizations of those church bodies.

"This was not rocket science. The settlement basically upheld canon laws and the laws of the commonwealth."

Other provisions of the court order, which was signed by Judge Joseph M. James, stipulate that:

Any parish choosing to disaffiliate with the diocese must provide written notice of such intent to the bishop and other diocesan leaders. If agreement cannot be reached, the matter is to be submitted to mediation.

Any parish not wanting membership in the Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 dioceses plus parishes and individuals of which Bishop Duncan is moderator, may withdraw from it without affecting its diocesan membership.

Resolution Six, which had called for the releasing of church property to individual parishes, was "withdrawn and is of no effect."

The settlement also made moot the bishop's notice last fall to possibly exclude Calvary and Wilkinsburg's St. Stephen's Church from the diocese for being plaintiffs in the suit. A diocesan spokesman yesterday said that invocation would be allowed to lapse.

In a statement released yesterday, Bishop Duncan welcomed the court agreement.

"We don't expect that parish disaffiliation will be a common occurrence in the life of the diocese, but is such a thing were to happen, we now have an open framework for sensitively dealing with it," he said.