Ordinariate Watch: Threat of lawsuit blocks ordinariate vote

St Timothy's vote cancelled following intervention by the Episcopal Church

An ACNA congregation in Fort Worth has been blocked by the threat of litigation from holding a parish vote on whether it would accept Pope Benedict XVI’s invitation to enter into full communion with Rome through the Anglican Ordinariate.

On 8 Dec 2011, Bishop Jack Iker announced that scheduled vote by the congregation of St Timothy’s Church in Fort Worth had been cancelled following the intervention of the national Episcopal Church.

Bishop Iker stated that on 6 Dec “lawyers for the Episcopal Church parties delivered a letter to our legal team inquiring about the situation at St. Timothy and commenting that the proposed use of the St. Timothy property by a body from another denomination would not be a ‘normal course of business use’ in compliance with the order of the 141st District Court signed Oct. 20, 2011.”

The diocese’s lawyers were asked “to explain how the situation would be handled to be in compliance with the order to avoid a hearing before the court, or the TEC lawyers indicated they would proceed to bring the matter to the court's attention.” To read more, click here.