The decision effectively brings to a close several lawsuits brought by the Episcopal Church against Illinois Anglicans over funds and property that have been in contention since a 2008 split over
doctrinal issues.
An Illinois District Court of Appeals had earlier upheld the decision by the court in Adams County in favor of the Anglican Diocese. The court ruled that there is no provision in the governing documents
of the Episcopal Church (USA) that keeps a Diocese from withdrawing its membership in that organization. The Supreme Court has now subsequently decided in favor of the lower courts in its
denial of the Episcopal Church’s appeal.
“We give thanks to Almighty God for His providence,” said the Right Reverend J. Alberto Morales, OSB, the ninth Bishop of Quincy. “Our work remains the same as it ever has been, though – to seek
first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We trust in Him to provide everything else we need as we seek to make Jesus Christ known throughout this portion of the Kingdom.”
The Anglican Diocese of Quincy has more than doubled in size and number of parishes since the 2008 split, now counting parishes in seven states. Episcopalians of the former diocese have been consolidated into the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
Anglican parishes and dioceses throughout the United States withdrew from the Episcopal Church over the Episcopal Church’s actions in convention which in one resolution denied the unique Lordship of Jesus Christ, and in another denied the primacy of Holy Scripture. The Anglican Church in North America is headed by her Archbishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach, and unites 112,000 Anglicans in nearly 1,000 congregations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. On April 16, 2009 it was recognized as a province of the global Anglican Communion, by the Primates of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans.
