He asked parishioners to forgive Bruno “and release you and your statements to the Lord’s hands.”
The fate of the Anglican congregants, at least with staying at the church, remains unknown, Holman said.
“Right now, we are still reviewing our options,” he said before Sunday’s service.
The congregation needs to get feedback from parishioners before deciding its next move, said Debbie Kollgaard, St. Luke’s senior warden.
The court issued its ruling Tuesday and agreed with the lower court that the Episcopal Diocese had the right to restore the church to its authority after the now-Anglican congregation split in 2006 over theological differences.
After severing ties with the Episcopal Diocese, the congregation allied with the Anglican Province of Uganda. But congregants continued to worship at the church, arguing that the property belonged to them, not to the diocese.
The Episcopal Diocese sued St. Luke’s after it joined the Anglican Province of Uganda.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge sided with the diocese in July 2007, citing a 1979 church law establishing its ownership of all Episcopal parish property.
Appeals court judges ruled that when the congregation split in February 2006, it lost its membership, power and authority in the diocese, and that congregants “were no longer members in good standing of the Episcopal Church.”
The latest court decision means Anglican parishioners must move out under the diocese’s authority and find another church to hold services, nursery and Bible classes.
The church created a contingency plan before the court’s decision, Holman said.
