Penn Hills Anglicans surrender church building
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A congregation in the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh will give up its building, saying that it couldn't pay the financial or ecclesiastical price that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh asked in property negotiations.
All Saints Church in the Rosedale section of Penn Hills, which has 104 members, will start holding services in Rosedale United Methodist Church on Oct. 2 at 9 a.m. According to David Trautman, a spokesman for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh, All Saints had offered the Episcopal diocese rental property that produces significant income and to pay off a loan that the Episcopal diocese would become responsible for if it held the property.
"We are a poor church. We made the best offer we could possibly make ... Our offer was rejected out of hand," the Rev. David Rucker, the rector, said.
In addition to asking an unspecified fair market value for the building, he said, the Episcopal diocese wanted All Saints to break ties with the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.
"The demand to disaffiliate would deny All Saints the freedom of religious affiliation," his statement said.
Rich Creehan, spokesman for the Episcopal diocese, wouldn't confirm or deny any Anglican claims about the substance of negotiations, saying the Episcopal diocese considered the process confidential.
The dispute dates to October 2008, when the majority at the convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, who believed that the Episcopal Church was too theologically liberal, voted to secede from the denomination. The minority chose new leaders and continued the Episcopal diocese.
According to Episcopal canons, parish property is held in trust for the denomination. Litigation began prior to the split. The Allegheny County Common Pleas Court awarded diocesan property to the Episcopalians, but upheld a prior stipulation that called for negotiations over parish property. The Anglican diocese is appealing but returned $22 million to the Episcopal diocese.
First Published September 2, 2011 12:00 am
