The California Supreme Court is about to weigh in on the feud between factions in the Episcopal Church over gay clergy.At issue is who owns the property when a parish breaks away from the Church. Three churches that split from the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles asked the high court to examine an appeals court ruling that said the churches and property had to be turned over to the diocese.
The Supreme Court announced late Wednesday it would take on the case.
St. James Church in Newport Beach, All Saints in Long Beach and St. David's in North Hollywood pulled out of the Episcopal Church, the American branch of the worldwide Anglican Church, and placed themselves under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Church in Uganda which prohibits gays in the denomination.
A lower court ruled that the dissident parishes could keep their properties, but in June the Appeals Court reversed the decision, saying the property belongs to the diocese.
The breakaway parishes in California are part of a group of churches that have aligned themselves with Anglican bishops in Africa, despite rules within the denomination that prohibits "poaching" of churches within Anglicanism.
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