'Masterson' Tagged Posts

'Masterson' Tagged Posts

Episcopal Parties File Petition for Review by U.S. Supreme Court

On June 19, 2014, The Episcopal Church and loyal Episcopal parties and congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. The Fort Worth parties were joined in the filing by the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas and the officials from the continuing Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in San Angelo. In related news, the remand of the case to the 141st District Court in Tarrant County continues; Judge John P. Chupp entered a scheduling order that includes pleading and discovery deadlines and sets the hearing on motions for summary judgment for December 17, 2014.

Statement from the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas regarding the Texas Supreme Court opinon in the Masterson case

The Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd issued this statement on August 31, 2013 following the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in the Masterson case. In Masterson, a San Angelo trial court and the Austin Court of Appeals both found that breakaway parties had no right to take historic Episcopal Church property that they had sworn to protect, just as the Fort Worth trial court found in our diocesan case. Dear Friends in Christ, We wanted to let you…

Update on Oral Arguments Before the Texas Supreme Court

On October 16, 2012 the Texas Supreme Court heard oral arguments in our diocesan case involving a faction of former leaders who broke ties with The Episcopal Church but continue to hold themselves out as leaders of the Episcopal Diocese with access to its historic property. Immediately following those arguments, the Court heard arguments in the Masterson case involving a similar breakaway faction from Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, San Angelo. Thomas S. Leatherbury, a partner of Vinson & Elkins, LLP,…

Texas Supreme Court sets date to hear oral arguments

The Texas Supreme Court has set October 16, 2012, as the date to hear oral arguments in the direct appeal by the breakaway defendants of the trial court ruling in the property litigation by the Episcopal Parties, first filed in April 2009. Arguments will begin at 9:00 a.m. and each side will be allotted 20 minutes. This is the same date the Court set previously to hear a similar case involving a church in San Angelo. In Masterson, a San Angelo…

ACNA Defendants Ask Texas Supreme Court to Set Oral Argument on Breakaways’ Appeal

The Breakaway Defendants have filed a motion to expedite the setting of the oral argument in our diocesan litigation pending before the Texas Supreme Court. The breakaway parties cited as reasons their declining membership and donations, the defection of several of their key breakaway leaders to the Roman Catholic Church, and the reported pending internal Church disciplinary proceedings under ecclesiastical canon law against the seven retired or current bishops who filed papers against the position of The Episcopal Church and…

National Churches Support Texas Episcopalians in Amicus Briefs Filed with Texas Supreme Court

Several national churches have joined The Episcopal Church and Texas dioceses in filing amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs with the Texas Supreme Court, in support of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas and the loyal Episcopalians at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in San Angelo. That case,Masterson v. Diocese of Northwest Texas (“Masterson”), is set for oral argument before the Court on February 29, 2012 in Laredo. On February 16, The Episcopal Church filed a separate brief in support…