Church leaves diocese, assets in gay debate

A former pastor and his congregation, who personally paid for land, the building of their church in Cloudcroft and its furnishings, have lost it all to the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, based in Albuquerque.

While the former congregation of the Church of the Ascension feels they were somewhat wronged by the diocese, the canon, or church law, is written to legally retain all tangible assets with the national Episcopal Church. Under the church law, the national church allows each individual church to hold property as stewards of its diocese.

The issue, a divisive movement within the Episcopal Church on a national level, surrounds church views on homosexuality.

Pastor Fred Griffin, minister to the congregation at Cloudcroft for the past four years, said the movement actually began in the 1960s. …

St. Clements and Trinity churches were parishes. Under canon law, the assets of those churches belong to the local church.

Griffin said the assets he and his congregation lost, which total approximately $200,000, are a lost cause. An additional loss was a $40,000 pool fund which the diocese froze, all of which had been originally given by the congregation.

"There is no point in fighting it," he said. "We would lose any attempted litigation. But we think we are in a very happy place now."

The Sunday following their last service in their former church, Griffin continued his congregation's worship in the church at the Sacramento Mountains Historical Society and Pioneer Village in Cloudcroft.

 

 Church leaves diocese, assets in gay debate
Alamogordo Daily News, NM