New filings in lawsuits

The Episcopal Church and its local supporters have re-filed their lawsuit in Tarrant County in an ongoing effort to seize all our property and assets in the Diocese of Fort Worth. This new pleading was needed in order to bring the plaintiffs into compliance with the June 25th order of the State Court of Appeals. The appellate court found that attorneys Kathleen Wells and Jonathan Nelson could not represent entities calling themselves “The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth” or the “Corporation of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth” and required that all pleadings made in those names be struck from the suit. Instead, the local TEC plaintiffs must now present themselves as individuals who are in fact suing the true Diocese and Corporation. The claims and goals of the suit continue as before: To force all our property and assets – including our name and insignia – to be relinquished to them.

In addition, in a case in Hood County, concerning a bequest to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Fort Worth, they have appealed previous court rulings favorable to our position and engaged two new Dallas attorneys to represent Bishop Wallis Ohl and The Episcopal Church before the Court of Appeals. Their hope is that the court will award the bequest funds, which were left to the church by a longtime parishioner, to Bishop Ohl and his diocese instead.

There is a September 2 hearing scheduled in the Hood County litigation to consider an additional motion brought this summer by the TEC parties, which would bar our attorneys from representing the Diocese and Corporation.

Your continued prayers for our attorneys in responding to all of this are greatly appreciated.