Response filed to Petition for Writ of Mandamus

Attorneys for a group that left The Episcopal Church have filed their response to a petition before the South Carolina Supreme Court in which The Episcopal Church in South Carolina (TECSC) and The Episcopal Church are seeking enforcement of the high court’s 2017 decision to return control of diocesan property and 29 parish properties to The Episcopal Church.

The “Intervenors’ Return to Petition for Writ of Mandamus,” filed Thursday, asks the court to deny the petition filed on March 20 by TECSC and The Episcopal Church that asks the Supreme Court to issue a writ of mandamus that would require First Judicial Circuit Judge Edgar W. Dickson to take action and execute the decision that the justices remitted to the court nearly 17 months ago.

Thursday’s legal response suggests that the Circuit Court should be given discretion to interpret the August 2017 opinion and make new determinations regarding the merits of the case. It generally repeats earlier arguments that the August 2017 opinion is unclear and unenforceable as written. And it argues that granting the petition would deny due process to the breakaway group.

The diocesan and parish properties in dispute are currently under the control of a group led by Bishop Mark Lawrence that left The Episcopal Church in 2012 and then sued the church in an attempt to keep the property. The delay in enforcing the high court’s decision and returning the properties to The Episcopal Church is continuing to cause harm to TECSC, the Petition for Writ of Mandamus says.