[Episcopal News Service] The California Supreme Court has agreed with a state Court of Appeal ruling in favor of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Los Angeles in cases where the majority of members of three Episcopal congregations voted to leave the Episcopal Church for oversight by bishops in another Anglican province.

The decision comes in the cases brought to recover Episcopal Church property retained by congregations now calling themselves St. James Anglican Church, Newport Beach; All Saints' Anglican Church, Long Beach; and St. David's Anglican Church, North Hollywood. The congregations voted in August 2004 to amend their articles of incorporation, and maintain that they are now part of the Anglican Province of Uganda.

"We agree with the [Fourth District] Court of Appeal's conclusion … that when defendants disaffiliated from the Episcopal Church, the local church property reverted to the general church," the Supreme Court held in a 31-page opinion available here.

Six of the court's seven members concurred in the ruling, while Associated Justice Joyce Kennard issued a separate opinion in which she concurred with the overall ruling but disagreed with some of the court's reasoning.

Complete ENS coverage will follow.

On the Net: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104027_ENG_HTM.htm