Update: The Rev. John Yates (rector of The Falls Church, Falls Church, Virginia) writes to his parish.
From the CANA website:
On January 12, Bishop Martyn Minns of CANA received the following letter from the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee). Bishop Minns’s response is also pasted below. CANA regrets that given the Episcopal Church’s more recent public polemical statements, that we are forced to make these two private letters part of the public record. In the past, the headquarters of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia has endorsed the principles of civility and grace (e.g., “The Grace and Power of Civility” by David Abshire). But their recent unilateral actions of (1) denying their own Protocol’s access to amicable separation, of (2) breaking off the negotiation process, of (3) driving a wedge into CANA congregations, of (4) denying senior priests access to COBRA health care extensions — all of these seem to prove that the Episcopal Church is more interested in posturing than people. CANA continues to pray for a peaceful resolution and that the Episcopal Church leaders will not initiate litigation.
January 10, 2007 - Letter from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee to the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns (PDF)
January 16, 2007 - Letter from the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns to the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee (PDF)
The Diocese of Virginia issued this: Diocesan Leadership Declares Church Property ‘Abandoned’ & A Letter to The Diocese of Virginia from the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop
Episcopal News Service Virginia leadership declares church property ‘abandoned’
Living Church Diocese Declares Departing Virginia Church Properties Abandoned
Richmond Times-Dispatch Diocese moves to recover breakaway churches’ land
Associated Press via Washington Post Episcopalians Readying Legal Challenge
Washington Times Church dispute headed to court
Episcopal News Service Presiding Bishop affirms Church’s ‘fiduciary and moral duty’ to preserve property