God's mission is so big, so wide, so complex that certain parts get pushed to the back burner. But they're making the same mistake by not realizing that they're pushing some other issues to the back burner. That can have a devastating effect on Anglicans throughout the world, he contended, despite the relatively small size of the U.S. church. A bullet makes a small hole going in and makes a big hole coming out. One of the disputes involves what happens to church property if parishes want to withdraw from the official church.
Division is painful, even if it's the right thing to do.
Already, three dozen parishes around the country have contacted Chuck Nalls, executive director of the Canon Law Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization providing advice on church matters to conservative parishes. Nalls, an international trade and intellectual property attorney, said callers have asked how to withdraw from their dioceses without forfeiting their church property. He said church property laws differ from state to state. Historically, colonial parishes owned their property. As the Episcopal Church expanded, he said, newer churches owed their mortgages to the diocese.