Dixon v. Edwards
| Decision Date | 22 May 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-2337.,01-2337. |
| Citation | 290 F.3d 699 |
| Parties | Jane Holmes DIXON, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Samuel L. EDWARDS; The Vestry of St. John's Parish, Defendants-Appellants. Jack Leo Iker, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth; Robert Duncan, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh; Peter James Lee, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia; Neff Powell, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia; Robert W. Ihloff, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland; John Rabb, Right Reverend, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland; Clifton Daniel, 3rd, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of East Carolina; Michael B. Curry, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina; J. Gary Gloster, Right Reverend, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina; James A. Kelsey, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan; Carolyn Tanner Irish, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Utah; Orris G. Walker, Jr., Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Long Island; Charles E. Bennison, Jr., Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania; William E. Swing, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of California; J. Jon Bruno, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles; Chester L. Talton, Right Reverend, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles; Robert M. Anderson, Right Reverend, Bishop Assistant of the Diocese of Los Angeles; Robert L. Ladehoff, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Oregon; William Otis Gregg, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Eastern Oregon; Vincent W. Warner, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Olympia; James Edward Waggoner, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Spokane; Harry B. Bainbridge, III, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Idaho; Katharine Jefferts Schori, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Nevada; Richard S.O. Chang, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Hawaii; Allen L. Bartlett, Jr., Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania (retired); James W. Montgomery, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Chicago (retired); Theodore Eastman, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland (retired); Ronald H. Haines, Right Reverend, Bishop of the Diocese of Washington (retired), Amici Curiae. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
Charles Hart Nalls, Dekieffer & Horgan, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. David Martin Schnorrenberg, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellee.
ON BRIEF:
Michael G. Van Arsdall, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. Kenneth R. Matticks, Dallas, Texas, for Amici Curiae Iker and Duncan. Russell V. Palmore, Jr., George A. Somerville, Troutman, Sanders, Mays & Valentine, L.L.P., Richmond, Virginia, for Amici Curiae Lee, et al.
Before MOTZ, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
Affirmed and remanded by published opinion. Judge KING wrote the opinion, in which Judge MOTZ and Judge GREGORY joined.
Plaintiff Jane Holmes Dixon is the Bishop Pro Tempore of the Diocese of Washington, one of approximately a hundred such entities constituting the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America (the "Episcopal Church" or "the Church"). Defendant Samuel L. Edwards is an ordained Priest of the Church who claims entitlement to the office of Rector of St. John's Parish in Accokeek, Maryland, a parish within the Diocese of Washington ("St. John's" or "the Parish"). In June 2001, Bishop Dixon sued Father Edwards and the Vestry of St. John's (the "Vestry") in the District of Maryland, seeking, inter alia, a declaration that Father Edwards is not the Rector of St. John's. The court granted summary judgment to Bishop Dixon, and it awarded her both declaratory and injunctive relief. For the reasons explained below, we affirm the district court, but we remand on a limited aspect of the injunction.
In December 2000, the Vestry selected Father Edwards to be its Rector. Bishop Dixon, however, as the Ecclesiastical Authority for St. John's, declined to license Father Edwards to officiate within the Diocese of Washington.1 Despite Bishop Dixon's refusal to approve his selection, Father Edwards moved from Texas to Maryland and began to act as Rector of St. John's. When Bishop Dixon visited the Parish and sought to officiate there on May 27, 2001, the Vestry and Father Edwards (collectively, the "Defendants") refused to permit her to enter the church building.2
Bishop Dixon promptly filed this civil action, asserting diversity jurisdiction pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1332. By her complaint, she sought, inter alia, a declaration (1) of her rights as Bishop of the Diocese, (2) that the Vestry's use of Parish property was unlawful, and (3) that the purported contract between Father Edwards and the Vestry was null and void. The Bishop requested the court to enjoin the Defendants from interfering with the performance of her duties at St. John's. She also sought to enjoin Father Edwards from (1) officiating at religious services on or near the grounds of St. John's, (2) acting as Rector of the Parish, and (3) using or occupying the buildings or grounds of St. John's.
On October 29, 2001, the district court filed its Opinion and related Order awarding summary judgment, along with corresponding declaratory and injunctive relief, to Bishop Dixon. Dixon v. Edwards, 172 F.Supp.2d 702 (D.Md.2001). The court thereafter, on November 21, 2001, slightly modified the permanent injunction awarded by its earlier Opinion and Order. On appeal, the Defendants seek reversal of the district court on multiple grounds. After first reviewing the relevant structure of the Church and the factual underpinnings of this dispute, we will address each of their issues.
In order to properly consider the issues in this appeal, we must first understand certain elementary aspects of the structure of the Church. As a predicate proposition, the Episcopal Church is a national church governed by its Constitution, its Canons, and its Book of Common Prayer. Constitution & Canons, Together with the Rules of Order, For the Government of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America Otherwise Known as The Episcopal Church, adopted in General Conventions 1789-2000, as revised by the 2000 Convention (Church Publ'g Inc.2000); The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, According to the Use of the Episcopal Church (Church Hymnal Corp.1979) (the "BCP"). The Constitution of the Church creates a bicameral government made up of a House of Bishops and a House of Deputies, which together comprise the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. The General Convention elects the Church's Presiding Bishop.
The Episcopal Church is geographically divided into approximately a hundred dioceses. This controversy arose in the Diocese of Washington, which consists of the District of Columbia and the Maryland counties of Charles, St. Mary's, Prince George's, and Montgomery. Each diocese of the Church is presided over by a diocesan bishop, and each diocese is empowered to adopt rules for the choice of its bishop. A diocese is also authorized to elect two suffragan, or assisting, bishops.3 When a bishop resigns or dies, the diocese may place a suffragan bishop in charge, as its interim ecclesiastical authority, until a new bishop is chosen and consecrated. From January 2001 to the present, Bishop Dixon has served the Diocese of Washington as such a "temporary bishop," denominated as its Bishop Pro Tempore.
Within each diocese of the Church, various parishes are formed by smaller subdivisions of churches or congregations. A parish is governed by its vestry, i.e., its elected lay leaders. The vestry is the agent and legal representative of the parish in all matters concerning parish property and in all matters concerning the relationship of the parish to its clergy. The vestry of each parish elects a priest to serve as its rector. A rector possesses authority over and responsibility for the conduct of worship services, and the rector has spiritual jurisdiction over the parish "subject to the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, the Constitution and Canons of the Church, and the pastoral direction of the Bishop." Canon III.14.1. The rector, who is a member of the vestry, presides at its meetings.4
When a parish has no rector, the bishop of the diocese serves as rector ex officio while the parish conducts a search for a priest to elect as its rector. The procedures for installing a rector are established by Canon III.17, and they include the requirement that a vestry communicate its choice of rector to the bishop, who is granted "sufficient time, not exceeding thirty days ... to communicate with the Vestry thereon." Moreover, the ecclesiastical authority is obligated to forward the notice of election to the General Convention when she is "satisfied that the person so chosen [as rector] is a duly qualified Priest."5 With this basic understanding of the structure of the Episcopal Church, we turn to the relevant facts underlying the dispute in this case.
On November 19, 1992, Bishop Dixon was elected and consecrated as the Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Washington. The then — incumbent Diocesan Bishop, the Right Reverend Ronald H. Haines, retired from office on December 31, 2000. On January 1, 2001, Bishop Dixon assumed the position of Bishop Pro Tempore and became the Ecclesiastical Authority of the Diocese. The Constitution of the Diocese provides that, in these circumstances, the Suffragan Bishop becomes the Ecclesiastical Authority, and Bishop Dixon thereby became Bishop Pro Tempore of the Diocese.
St. John's is one of ninety-five...
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