PITTSBURGH  The leader of a conservative Episcopal diocese withdrew a resolution designed to protect the assets of parishes by giving members control of property and buildings should they leave the national church.
The resolution, introduced by Bishop Robert Duncan, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, spawned a lawsuit against him and the diocese's board of trustees to prevent the transfer of any church property, according to The Associated Press.
Duncan withdrew the resolution in a response to the lawsuit filed Dec. 30. Joe Otto, an attorney representing Duncan, said the resolution may have confused some people.
"To the extent it might have done that, it seemed to the diocese that it should be taken out of the picture," Otto said.
Withdrawing it did not satisfy church members who filed the suit when the resolution was passed in September, the news service reported.
"We want a court declaration regarding the illegality of the resolution," said the Rev. Harold Lewis, rector of Calvary Episcopal Church in Pittsburgh, which filed the lawsuit.
Church law stipulates that all properties be held in trust for the diocese and the national denomination.
Duncan told an audience at a September convention the resolution was about "the spirit in which we would try to negotiate over property issues were any congregation to decide at some point in the future to leave its union with the diocese."
