WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court won't get involved in a dispute between breakaway Episcopalians and their former national church over who owns a California parish and its property.

The high court refused yesterday to hear an appeal from the St. James Anglican Church in the Diocese of Los Angeles. It is one of several dozen individual parishes and four dioceses nationwide that voted to split from the national church after the 2003 consecration of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire.

California courts have ruled that, while St. James had the right to split off from the larger church, the congregation could not take parish property with it, even though the parish has held the deed to the church for decades.

The Episcopal Church has argued that its rules bar anyone from walking away with denomination property, which often includes large endowments and land worth millions of dollars. The conservatives who want to separate say they have spent years, even decades, spending money to maintain and improve the buildings.

Attorney John Eastman, one of the lawyers representing the church, says the court likely declined to hear the case because more court action remains at the state level.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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