Another Diocese calls for full disclosure of Episcopal lawsuit spending and for negotiation instead of litigation

The protest continues to spread around the church as more and more people are made aware of the money being squandered. The Diocese of West Texas just passed two resolutions, posted at Stand Firm:

Resolution 3-2009
TEC Litigation Expense Disclosure

TITLE: TEC LITIGATION EXPENSE DISCLOSURE

PROPOSER: THE DIOCESE OF WEST TEXAS

Resolved, the House of _______concurring, that the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church direct the office of the Presiding Bishop and the Executive Council to provide the following information to each Diocese of the Church:
(a) The dollar amount spent by TEC on litigation against dioceses, parishes, groups of churches and individuals since General Convention, 2006;
(b) A list of the church accounts and/or budget items from which these funds were taken;
(c) An explanation of the line item described in the Domestic & Foreign Missionary Society Budgetary Summary as: Additional Draw from short-term reserve for legal support to dioceses exceeding budget for 2008-$1,520.000.00;
(d) The amount of money budgeted for litigation for the next Triennium;
(e) An estimate of the amount of property value retained and expected to be retained by the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA) because of pending and completed litigation as of General Convention 2009.

MOTION PASSED AS AMENDED

Resolution 4-2009
TEC Litigation Forbearance Policy

Be it RESOLVED, the Diocese of West Texas requests that The Episcopal Church and all Dioceses, parishes and bishops adopt a policy of negotiation and/or mediation with regard to disputes over property and do everything in their power to resolve such disputes prior to engaging in secular lawsuits with fellow Christians.

RESOLVED, that the Secretary of Council of the Diocese communicate this request to the office of the Presiding Bishop and Executive Council of The Episcopal Church.

RESOLVED, that the Secretary of the Diocese report the Presiding Bishop’s and Executive Council’s response to the clergy and people of the Diocese prior to the commencement of General Convention 2009.

MOTION PASSED AS AMENDED

Way to go, West Texas. The people there saw through some of the lies that have been spread to hide the lawsuit frenzy and the horrific monetary and human costs inflicted upon God's people by it.

The big lie circulated here in South Dakota (and I'm sure in other dioceses) is that these resolutions are an excuse for people to walk off with Episcopal Church property. But where negotiations were used, prior to the Presiding Bishop's frantic over-reactions, TEC received millions of dollars in consideration from parishes that wanted to disaffiliate. And her lawsuits have, in a number of large cases, resulted in TEC losing all claim to the congregational properties and poisoning relations between the congregations, the local diocese and the national church.