Property rights and the vote of the People on the line - Savannah News editorial sides with parish

"Christ Church in Savannah has always been locally owned. The church has never received financial support from the national organization. Savannahians paid for the construction of the church and the payment of its clergy.

A vote of the church membership - in the wake of serious doctrinal issues reaching even the unequivocal divinity of Christ - resulted in the separation of the local congregation from the national group.

The Episcopal Church, with the help of Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf, has seized property it neither paid for nor maintained in more than 275 years."

-Edward Fulford of The Savannah News

Here's the entire editorial from the Savannah News:

Imagine 50 years after the inception of the fictional Cape Charles Reporter in the mid-1800s, the paper joined an association of like-minded journalists.

This American Journalists Association, through support of a sister group, the European Newspaper Guild, founds a series of newspapers across the country.

Strong local support enables the Reporter to act as a donor member of the AJA, fostering the creation of still more newspapers and subsidizing less financially stable ones.

While the founders of the Cape Charles paper retain ownership of the building and press, and the local community funds the staff payroll, the coastal town's journalists so believe in the value of an informed public, they are willing to share of their excess.

Now flash forward a century.

Over time, the Cape Charles leaders and a majority of the staff come to differ with the AJA on ethical standards and operational goals.

Remember, all this time, money has never flowed from the AJA to the Reporter. The Reporter has always financially supported the national organization.

But a basic rift occurs. The local paper clings to the ideal of an unbiased newsroom staff. The AJA decides there is nothing wrong with its news stories advocating a political agenda.

The Reporter's publisher, editors and half the staff decide to break away from the AJA in order to preserve their understanding of the journalist's role. Others of the staff adhere to the policy of the national organization.

One might think the national organization would then start a new paper for its faithful Cape Charles members, or shift them to existing papers it had started over the years.

What would be inconceivable would be for the AJA - who through a series of decisions had separated itself from its own long-held tradition and the policy of the Reporter - to suddenly claim ownership of the local paper's valuable, historic building and press. Most would think an attempt to oust the newspaper's operators from the property they held before even the formation of the AJA to be a greedy, spiteful action in light of a century of outgoing support the local paper granted the national group.

So here's the question: How can the actions of the Episcopal Church be seen any differently?

Christ Church in Savannah has always been locally owned. The church has never received financial support from the national organization. Savannahians paid for the construction of the church and the payment of its clergy.

A vote of the church membership - in the wake of serious doctrinal issues reaching even the unequivocal divinity of Christ - resulted in the separation of the local congregation from the national group.

The Episcopal Church, with the help of Superior Court Judge Michael Karpf, has seized property it neither paid for nor maintained in more than 275 years.

In any other circumstance, such an abrogation of the local congregation's property rights would not be tolerated. That the seizure was carried out by religious leaders who have strayed from ironclad biblical teaching makes the heavy-handed action by both church and state that much harder to countenance.

The local leaders who have clung to their longtime beliefs have decided to appeal. I wish them strength in their fight toward ultimate success.

Edward Fulford is an editorial writer for the Savannah Morning News. Read it all here.