Breakaway group to return Savannah church after court loss

By Associated Press

For the AJC

A Savannah congregation that split from the Episcopal Church four years ago in a dispute over homosexuality will return the historic church's $3 million property to the local diocese after losing a legal battle in the Georgia Supreme Court, the breakaway group said Thursday.

The Rev. Marc Robertson said his congregation has agreed to hold its final Sunday service Dec. 11 at Christ Church, a sanctuary built in 1840. The church traces its roots to the state's founding in 1733 and has long been known as the "Mother Church of Georgia."

"We will transfer keys to the other party by noon on the following day," said Robertson, whose congregation has promised an orderly swap with the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. He said another local church has agreed to let the group share its building for worship services.

The breakaway group has held onto the downtown Savannah property since 2007, when the congregation left the national church for affirming its first gay bishop. A long court battle followed, with the Georgia Supreme Court ruling Nov. 21 that the church property rightfully belongs to the Episcopal Church hierarchy under its governing hierarchy and bylaws.

The breakaway group's board chairman, David Reeves, said its leaders voted earlier this week not to ask the court to reconsider its 6-1 ruling.

"We just thought it was a long shot in trying to convince three out of those six judges to change their minds," Reeves said.

However, it's not necessarily the end to the legal battle. Reeves said the breakaway congregation hasn't ruled out appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, a decision that must be made before the end of February.

Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, who founded Georgia as the 13th British colony in 1733, set aside the land for Christ Church on Johnson Square in his original plans for Savannah and attended its first worship service.

While the legal dispute centered on which group legally owned the title to the property, Robertson's congregation insisted the fight was mainly one of theological differences. The breakaway group said it was forced to leave the Episcopal Church because it finds the denomination's policies on homosexuality to be at odds with biblical teachings.

The Rev. Frank Logue, a top administrator under the Georgia's Episcopal bishop, said Thursday that the first Episcopal Sunday service at Christ Church on Dec. 18 would be "very much worship as usual."

"The mood certainly is not celebratory," Logue said. "There's been a good deal of prayers for Marcus Robertson and the departing congregation, knowing how hard this has been for them."