Attorneys for the Episcopal bishop of Los Angeles on Friday gave three breakaway parishes until Monday to either surrender their church properties, even their prayer books, or to stop using them until the church or civil courts decide who is the rightful owner.
The parishes were also given five days to deliver financial statements, copies of all bank accounts and investment portfolios, and their registers of members.
Over the last two weeks, the three conservative parishes -- All Saints in Long Beach, St. James in Newport Beach and St. David's in North Hollywood -- declared that they had pulled out of the national Episcopal Church and no longer considered Los Angeles Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno their leader. The parishes placed themselves under the jurisdiction of an Anglican diocese in Uganda run by a conservative bishop who agrees with their more orthodox biblical interpretations and views on homosexuality.
On Friday, in hand-delivered letters to the three parishes, Los Angeles diocesan attorney John R. Shiner of Morrison & Foerster said the congregations were in violation of church canons and California civil law and could face a lawsuit.
Church buildings and all property were "irrevocably dedicated to the church and the diocese under the jurisdiction of the bishop," according to the statement.
The letter sought to prohibit the secessionist parishes from using not only the church buildings but also the hymnals and the Book of Common Prayer, which is central to Episcopal and Anglican worship.
Father Praveen Bunyan, rector of St. James, called the ultimatum by the diocese unfortunate.
"We're just worshiping in our own property," he said. "We're doing what is legally our right. We will continue to have worship services here. We have peace about it."
Bunyan said parish attorneys would review the letter over the weekend before any further comment. The Rev. William Thompson, rector at All Saints, issued a similar statement.
Leaders of St. David's could not be reached, but they had previously said that they held title to the property and were confident they would win in any possible legal tussle.
In the last week, the parishes said they had amended their articles of incorporation to delete all references to the 2.3-million-member Episcopal Church, which is the American arm of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
