A hierarchical church?

http://toalltheworld.blogspot.com/2008/03/hierarchical-church.html

[To All the World] 31 Mar 2008--In light of my recent posts speaking up for Bishops William Cox and Edward MacBurney, someone wrote asking if I was perhaps putting myself and the seminary I represent in the crosshairs of the liberal establishment. Specifically he asked if The Episcopal Church had any control over Nashotah House's property? Does the Dennis Canon apply to seminaries?

No, I replied, the Dennis Canon only applies to the real and personal property of "any Parish, Mission, or Congregation." But that started me thinking. What if, at some future General Convention, someone introduced a new canon stating that the property of all seminaries that had historically served the Episcopal Church would, from that time forward, be held in trust for the Episcopal Church. Would that make it so? Could the Episcopal Church do that?

No, it could not. In the first place, the seminaries have been founded, chartered, and incorporated as free-standing institutions. The Episcopal Church has never asserted ownership of the seminaries.