Church has its eviction stayed

LA CRESCENTA — Service at St. Luke’s of the Mountains Anglican Church will go on as usual this weekend after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday stayed a possible eviction until the legal fight for the property is resolved.

Although the decision prevented what could have been a stressful, almost immediate move, the ongoing lawsuit over ownership of the property with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles — with which the church split in 2006 — overshadows any sense of victory, said Debbie Kollgaard, the highest-ranking member on St. Luke’s governing body.

“There’s still a cloud, and it’s a challenge,” she said. “But at least we know now we can continue to do our ministries.”

The ruling preserves the status quo at 2563 Foothill Blvd. until the appeal to an earlier ruling that it belongs to the diocese is settled.

Calls to Episcopal Diocese officials were not returned Friday.

St. Luke’s started down its legal path in February 2006, when parishioners there voted to split from the Episcopal Church, citing theological differences. They then joined the Anglican Province of Uganda, prompting the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to sue St. Luke’s, claiming that the church property is held in trust for the Episcopal Church.

St. Luke’s 12-member governing body, or vestry, contends the property and 83-year-old building belong to the nearly 250-member congregation.

But in July, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Stephard Wiley Jr. disagreed and, in a 77-page ruling, upheld the national church’s claim that a 1979 church law established its ownership of all Episcopal parish property.

An appeal to that ruling is still pending, even as a parallel case involving three other former Episcopal parishes in Orange County — which are also under the jurisdiction of the Anglican bishop in Uganda after they split in 2004 — seek to have their appeal on similar grounds heard by the California Supreme Court.

A decision on that case would “greatly influence St. Luke’s case,” said Daniel F. Lula, an attorney representing the church in La Crescenta.

His appeal to the California Court of Appeals 2nd District could last more than a year, he said.

Also in issuing his ruling, Wiley ignored the Episcopal Los Angeles Diocese’s request that St. Luke’s take out a $7-million bond for the duration of the appeal, instead requiring the church to pay “well under $100,000,” Lula said.

If the appeal is lost, the bond money would go to the Episcopal Diocese to help defray the costs associated with not having access to the property, he said.

In the meantime, Kollgaard said St. Luke’s congregation will move on with serving its community and membership while trusting in God for the right resolution. “The church is the body,” she said. “We love our building, but we will continue.”