Episcopal Leaders Vote to Leave Church

Two of Virginia’s oldest Episcopal parishes voted to split from the church, which some say could prompt a dispute over multimillion-dollar property.

The governing council, or vestry, of a Fairfax, Va., church voted to leave the 2.2-million member Episcopal church over questions of biblical authority and the consecration of a homosexual as a bishop.

The vestry of the second church in Falls Church, Va., voted to leave over a theological disconnect, said Tom Warden, who is on that church’s vestry.

What happens to the property is up for debate. One church sits on $17 million worth of prime real estate; the other is worth about $10 million, The Washington Times said. Church officials from both parishes said they intend to keep their properties. The vestries have proposed joining the Anglican District of Virginia, a newly formed group of churches begun with former churches of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

Virginia Bishop Peter J. Lee said he believed the diocese had a responsibility to founders not to let a current generation walk away with their property.

The vestries’ decisions must be approved by a majority of each parish’s members during a congregational vote next month.