At St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, the Rev. Richard Crocker told parishioners Sunday to await the "good news of a God who's with us," an upbeat message despite a recent legal ruling that could strip the congregation of its property because of its break with the Episcopal Church.
At St. John's Cathedral near downtown Los Angeles, whose congregation has remained within the Episcopal fold, the Very Rev. Canon Mark R. Kowalewski told parishioners that the Episcopal Church is "one church, one family."
The two messages came just days after the California Supreme Court ruled that congregations choosing to leave the Episcopal Church may lose church buildings and property because they belong to the national church.
The ruling culminated a lawsuit filed by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national church against St. James and two other congregations in Long Beach and North Hollywood after they broke away partly over objections to the 2003 consecration of a gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire.
On Sunday, pastors -- and their parishioners -- voiced divergent opinions about the ruling and a broader conflict over gays in the Episcopal Church that has provoked legal battles across the country and led breakaway parishes and dioceses last month to announce the formation of a separate Anglican Church in North America.
Crocker referred to the court's ruling only briefly in his Sunday sermon, calling it "very bad news."
But he said he remained optimistic that further legal action would result in a favorable outcome for the congregation, although he did not offer specifics. St. James is now affiliated with the Anglican Church of Uganda.
"We don't know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future," Crocker said, eliciting a hearty "Amen!" from the pews. "God's good news is never quite how we expect it."
Crocker added that the congregation would consider its options but that reconciliation was unlikely.
"Our disagreements [with the Episcopal Church] are profound," he said in an interview. Parishioners at St. James, he said, are "convinced of the appropriateness of the decision [to leave] and will see it through."
Bill Dunlap, 60, a senior warden at St. James, said he wished his congregation had "won outright" in court, but "we're not in charge. God is. God will show us the direction."
