Federal appeals court upholds ruling ousting priest from parish

By The Associated Press

05.23.02

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LANHAM, Md. — A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that ousted a conservative priest from his suburban Washington Episcopal church.

Father Samuel Edwards defied orders last year from Jane Holmes Dixon, acting bishop of Washington, to leave the tiny Christ Church in Accokeek, setting off a long dispute over whether Dixon had the authority to remove him.

Dixon sued Edwards in U.S. District Court of Maryland last summer when he refused to step down as rector of Christ Church after Dixon refused to approve the parish's decision to hire him.

In a September decision, Judge Peter J. Messitte ordered Edwards to leave, saying the priest had undercut Dixon's authority as bishop and the highest authority in the diocese by refusing to step down.

Edwards and Christ Church appealed, saying the constitutional separation of church and state means the civil courts could not decide what they claimed was strictly a religious matter.

But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday that Dixon had brought the suit as an individual, asking the civil courts to affirm the authority given to her by church law.

Messitte did not say whether her decision was proper, which would have violated the First Amendment separation between church and state, he simply interpreted the church's rules on governance.

"If the church is hierarchical, a civil court should defer to the final authority within its hierarchy, declining even to determine whether an ecclesiastical decision is arbitrary," wrote Judge Robert B. King in the appeals court's opinion.

The court also affirmed that the bishop is the highest authority in a diocese according to church law. "In the Episcopal Church, the priests and laity of a diocese are subject to the authority of their bishop," the court wrote.

The dispute that flared last year in the tiny Prince George's County parish was emblematic of a greater split between conservatives and church leaders in the 2.2-million member Episcopal Church USA.

Conservatives, including Edwards, feel the church strays too much from its traditional roots by ordaining women and tacitly accepting homosexuals. Several parishes have split from the U.S. church, aligning themselves with Anglican dioceses overseas.

The former head of the conservative group Forward in Faith, Edwards said in writings that the church was "hellbound" because of its policies on women and homosexuals.

Christ Church hired Edwards in December 2000, but Dixon did not approve his contract because she feared he would break the parish from the diocese because of his conservative views. The church argued she missed a 30-day period to disapprove of his appointment, meaning she could not remove him.

The dispute culminated in a Sunday visit by Dixon to Christ Church to enforce a deadline she set for Edwards to leave. She was blocked from the church and forced to hold her religious service on a nearby basketball court.

Edwards can't preach at Christ Church but still lives in Accokeek. His attorney said the appeals court applies only to Dixon, who leaves her post at the end of the month, since she sued as an individual. Once she is gone, Messitte's ruling doesn't apply, according to Charles H. Nalls.

"Once she is no longer the acting bishop of Washington, it seems based on the opinion that there is no more basis for her suit," he said.

In a statement, Dixon called for unity at Christ Church, a parish that has been deeply divided by the Edwards controversy.

"My prayer for all the people of Christ Church and St. John's Parish, Accokeek, is that they can once again come together to do the vital work that we are called to do as Christians."

The appeals court did overturn one portion of Messitte's ruling, saying his injunction barring Edwards from holding religious services within 300 feet of Christ Church was too vague.