Episcopal Press and News
Diocese, Parish Sever Relationship
Episcopal News Service. August 21, 1986 [86182]
DALLAS (DPS, Aug. 21) -- Following intensive discussions, the Rt. Rev. Donis D. Patterson, acting with advice and consent of the Standing Committee, has dissolved the relationship between the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas and the Church of the Holy Communion, here.
The action, effective Aug. 1, makes the congregation an independent church with no organizational or canonical relationship with the diocese or the Episcopal Church in the United States. Under terms of the agreement, the parish will retain the name "Church of the Holy Communion of Frankford, Episcopal" and its 4.87 acres of land and property.
The separation was the result of the parish's refusal to adopt the 1979 Book of Common Prayer as the standard for corporate worship. Patterson had requested all 64 parish and mission congregations in the Diocese of Dallas to conform to Prayer Book usage by Jan. 1, 1986. He further sought conformity from the Church of the Holy Communion in a directive dated Ash Wednesday, Feb. 12. Vestry and the remainder of the congregation refused to comply, and the Rev. Duane Beauchamp, rector, resigned.
By local canon, property is owned by the corporation of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. Its members and the Standing Committee agreed with Chancellor Paul W. Eggers that filing a legal suit to retain the property was not the appropriate solution to the conflict. A diocesan spokesman noted that fewer than one-quarter of the congregation's 200 members still worship there, and the church's geographic isolation makes it unlikely that a viable diocesan congregation could be raised up there.
Patterson accepted the Church's decision to function as an independent congregation with deep regret. "We have agonized with members of the Vestry and representatives of the parish," he said, "After long and attentive discussion, we have arrived at a solution which seems best for all concerned." Patterson said conversation between the parish and the diocese had been characterized by charity and forbearance. "We have agreed to resolve our differences as constructively as possible," he said.