Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee v. Rector, Wardens, & Vestrymen of St. Andrew's Parish

• Decision Date: 25 April 2012
• Docket Number: No. M2010-01474-COA-R3-CV,M2010-01474-COA-R3-CV
• Parties: THE CONVENTION OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE, ET AL. v. THE RECTOR, WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN OF ST. ANDREW'S PARISH, A TENNESSEE CORPORATION
• Court: Tennessee Court of Appeals

THE CONVENTION OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE, ET AL.

v.THE RECTOR, WARDENS, AND VESTRYMEN OF ST. ANDREW'S PARISH, A TENNESSEE CORPORATION

No. M2010-01474-COA-R3-CV

COURT OF APPEALS OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE

March 24, 2011 Session

Filed April 25, 2012

Appeal from the Chancery Court for Davidson County

No. 09-2092-II Carol L. McCoy, Chancellor

An Episcopal parish in Nashville asserted its intention to disassociate from The Diocese of Tennessee, causing the Diocese to file a declaratory judgment action to determine whether it or the local congregation owned and controlled the real and personal property where the local congregation worshiped. The trial court determined that The Episcopal Church is hierarchical, and based on the canons and constitutions of the Church and its Diocese, ruled that the local parish held the property in trust for the Diocese. The church appealed, and we affirm the trial court's judgment.

Tenn. R. App. P. 3 Appeal as of Right; Judgment of the Chancery Court Affirmed

PATRICIA J. COTTRELL, P.J., M.S., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ANDY D. BENNETT and RICHARD H. DINKINS, JJ., joined.

Blakeley Dossett Matthews, Benjamin M. Rose, James Matthew Blackburn, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellants, The Rector, Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. Andrew's Parish, a Tennessee Corporation.

John Richard Lodge, Jr., Anthony Joel McFarland, Wendy M. Warren, Nashville, Tennessee, for the appellees, The Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee d/b/a The Diocese of Tennessee, a Tennessee Corporation and The Right Reverend John C. Bauerschmidt.

OPINION

This case concerns a dispute between the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee and Bishop John C. Bauerschmidt (the "Diocese of Tennessee" or the "Diocese"), on the one side, and the Rector, Wardens, and Vestrymen of St. Andrew's Parish ("St. Andrew's"), on the other, over real and personal property located at 3700 Woodmont Boulevard in Nashville, Tennessee (the "Property"), where St. Andrew's church has been located for more than fifty years. As the result of certain decisions made by The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America ("The Episcopal Church") in 2003, St. Andrew's informed the Diocese of Tennessee in 2006 of its desire to join a different diocese, which was part of a different church. The Diocese tried to resolve St. Andrew's concerns over the next few years.

When reconciliation talks failed, individual members of St. Andrew's announced in April of 2009 their decision to disassociate from the Diocese and The Episcopal Church. In the fall of 2009, when it became clear St. Andrew's did not intend to remain a part of the Diocese, the Diocese filed a complaint for declaratory relief and an accounting of all property located on or associated with the Property. The Diocese asked the court to declare that the Property is impressed with a trust in favor of the Diocese and that, as a result of the trust, the Diocese has the sole right to occupy and use the Property. St. Andrew's contested the Diocese's claim, arguing the Property belongs to it by virtue of a negotiated warranty deed and that there is no trust because the general rules of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese relating to property do not apply to St. Andrew's on account of its special relationship to the Diocese. The trial court, applying neutral principles of law, found that a trust existed in favor of the Diocese. Consequently, the trial court determined the property belonged to the Diocese. St. Andrew's appealed.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Following discovery, the Diocese moved for summary judgment. The trial court entered an order granting the Diocese's motion in which it set out its findings of fact and conclusions of law, including the following:

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America is a hierarchical religious body in structure and governance, composed of essentially three tiers, each being bound by the decisions of the higher tier, with the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church exercising ultimate authority. The Plaintiff, The Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee, d/b/a, The Diocese of Tennessee, operates at the second level and the Defendant, St. Andrew's, is found at thethird tier which is composed of the individual churches, parishes and missions.

The Diocese has its own Constitution and Canons that supplement, and must not be inconsistent with, the Church's Constitution and Canons. Article II of the Constitution of the Diocese provides that the Diocese has acceded to and adopted the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The Diocesan Constitution, adopted by the General Convention in 1789 has been revised throughout the years . . . .

. . .

In 1957, the Cheek family sold the real property located at 3700 Woodmont Boulevard, Nashville, Tennessee, and the subject of this motion, for $50,000 to the Wardens and Vestrymen of the Church of the Advent, which, in 1966, conveyed the title and outstanding indebtedness to the Diocese by warranty deed.

The Defendant St. Andrew's parish was created as a mission by the Diocese in 1889 and granted permission by the Diocese to organize as a parish in the Diocese in 1960. When the mission congregation applied for membership in the Diocese in 1960, the members of the mission executed Articles of Association and acknowledged in writing that they would "accede to the constitution, canons, doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee."

[St. Andrew's moved to the Property in 1965.] In April, 1966, the parish incorporated as "The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of St. Andrew's Parish." At the time of incorporation, the parish incorporators again acknowledged and acceded in writing to the "constitution, canons, doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee." Thereafter, St. Andrew's parish was made a constituent part of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Tennessee.

In November, 1966, the Diocese, through its Bishop at that time, executed a warranty deed, conveying title in the real property to "The Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of St. Andrew's Parish."

In January, 1978, St. Andrew's amended its corporate charter to delete the provision which stated "This corporation acknowledges and accedes to the constitution, canons, doctrines and worship of the Episcopal Church in theDiocese of Tennessee."

On October 26, 2006, St. Andrew's Rector, James M. Guill, wrote the Bishop for the Diocese a letter, stating that the Vestry of St. Andrew's had "unanimously resolved to join the Diocese of Quincy [Illinois]" effective November 1, 2006.¹ The resolution states, in part, that the 2003 General Convention of The Episcopal Church (TEC) created a schism by electing a man to the episcopacy whose teachings and lifestyle are contrary to the Holy Scripture and Traditions of the Church, that the General Convention did not repent of its schismatic relations, and that the 2006 General Convention elected a person not qualified to be bishop. The document reflects St. Andrew's decision to disassociate and to separate itself from The Episcopal Church and the Diocese.

Most of the findings set out above are undisputed. However, St. Andrew's disputes the trial court's finding or conclusion² that The Episcopal Church is a "hierarchical religious body in structure and governance," with regard to property ownership and to St. Andrew's in particular. That issue will be discussed fully later in this opinion.

II. GOVERNING DOCUMENTS

Through its governing body, the General Convention, The Episcopal Church has adopted a Constitution and Canons that govern the Church, its dioceses, and its parishes. Each diocese has also adopted its own Constitution and Canons that supplement those of the Episcopal Church. Such diocesan governing documents cannot be inconsistent with those of the central church. Parishes, i.e.,the local congregations, are governed by the documents of both The Episcopal Church and the diocese in which the parish is located.

Several provisions of these governing documents relate to real property. In 1960 when St. Andrew's became a parish of the Diocese, and in 1966 when St. Andrew's incorporated and received the warranty deed to the Property, the governing documents of TheEpiscopal Church included several pertinent provisions, which the trial court recited in its opinion.

Two canons of The Episcopal Church, taken together, prohibited (and still prohibit) the encumbrance or alienation of any property belonging to a parish without consent of the Bishop, the head of a diocese.³ The Diocese's Canon 17 [New Parishes], which was in effect in 1960⁴ , establishes requirements for new parishes, and such parishes are required to adopt Articles of Association that state, inter alia:

(2) The Parish acknowledges and accedes to the Constitution, Canons, Doctrine, Discipline and Worship of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee.

. . .

(6) The title to all real estate now owned or hereafter acquired by this Parish shall be vested in (a) the Convention of the Protestant Episcopal church in the Diocese of Tennessee, in trust for this Parish; or (b) the Rector, Wardens and Vestrymen of this Parish or © Trustees and their successors in trust for this Parish; or (d) a religious or general welfare corporation organized under thelaws of the State of Tennessee.

(7) All real estate now owned or hereafter acquired by this Parish, title to which is vested in any manner as aforesaid, shall be held, sold, transferred, alienated, conveyed, mortgaged or encumbered, in whole or in part, only in conformity with the Constitution, Canons, Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship of The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Tennessee.

The Articles of Association of St. Andrew's Parish...