That vote to disaffiliate was binding upon all parishes and missions within the Episcopal of Fort Worth unless an individual congregation voted, as a whole, to implement Canon 32, which allows for the parishes to return to TEC with their church property intact. In November 2008, the overall vote to realign was 78% in the clerical order and 80% in the laity vote. Even four of the seven lay delegates from All Saints-Fort Worth voted to realign.

Handbook for Vestry Members

Following the 2008 realignment of the historic Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, a group of Episcopalians within the Diocese desirous of returning to the fold of The Episcopal Church circulated a "Handbook for Vestry Members." In it the North Texas Episcopalians Steering Committee issued a stern warning about Canon 32: "Don't go there!" they cried claiming that the Canon was an attempt on the part of the realigned diocese to grab their land.

Internet blogger Katie Sherrod in her "Desert's Child" blog on the "Wilderness Garden" website tried to perpetuate that fallacy.

"Canon 32 is an illegal canon," protested Ms. Sherrod, who is currently the communication director for the TEC diocese, "... passed by those intent on leaving The Episcopal Church and taking its property with them."

However, several congregations saw the wisdom in Canon 32 and willingly participated with Bishop Iker and were able to successfully disengage from the realigned Diocese of Fort Worth and reconnect with The Episcopal Church including: Trinity and St. Christopher's, Fort Worth; St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Southlake; and St. Luke's, Stephenville.

In February 2009, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori personally came to Fort Worth to help shepherd the fledging North Texas Episcopalians back into her spiritual fold through the reconstitution of the rump diocese of Fort Worth under the initial leadership of Bishop Edwin Gulick (I TEC Fort Worth Provisional). All Saints-Fort Worth at 5001 Crestline Road hosted the meeting, which was held in violation of Episcopal Church canons.

One loyal TEC parish, All Saints-Fort Worth, under the rectorship of Fr. Christopher Jambor was -- and still is -- a hold out in implementing the Canon 32 process. Not everyone has agreed with that decision; there has been open, and at times bitter, dissension since then.

The ill will has been festering now for more than six years while Fr. Jambor has held the hard line in not cooperating with Bishop Iker to release all of All Saints-Fort Worth property. The dissension has spilled over into the courts. Another costly court skirmish revolving around All Saints-Fort Worth is brewing.

In 2009, Fr. Jambor was one of nearly two-dozen Episcopal priests and deacons who received coveted Letters Dimissory from Bishop Iker, which canonically released them from the newly realigned diocese and freed them up canonically to be rejoined with The Episcopal Church.

Favorable March 2 court ruling

On March 2, 2015, Tarrant County District Court Judge John J. Chupp issued a summary judgment in favor of the historic diocese led by Bishop Iker. Only All Saints-Fort Worth was cut out of the Court's judgment.

Judge Chupp withheld the "claims relating to All Saints Episcopal Church (Fort Worth)," and suggested that the Diocese of Fort Worth and the leadership of All Saints-Fort Worth come to the bargaining table to resolve the property issue without the need for further court litigation.

"Nearly six years after we were first sued by The Episcopal Church and its local representatives, the Court has confirmed the Diocese's right to dissociate from TEC and for the Corporation to retain its property," the historic Diocese of Fort Worth website explains. "In granting our motion, the Hon. John Chupp has ruled that Bishop Iker and the duly-elected officials of the Diocese and Corporation control the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, its Corporation, all endowments and funds, and all property that has been disputed in this litigation. The ruling is binding on all parties."

Bishop Rayford High (III TEC Fort Worth Provisional) has already indicated, through his disappointment, that the remaining rump diocese plans on seeking favorable higher court rulings noting that, "we are confident going forward under the rulings of the Fort Worth Court of Appeals and Texas Supreme Court that are already in place in our case."

To help facilitate Judge Chupp's earnest request for a peaceful resolution, Bishop Iker has again reinitiated the Canon 32 process to help equitably resolve the land ownership dispute with All Saints-Fort Worth.

Canon 32 rejected as arbitration tool

Bishop Iker has written letters to the two All Saints Episcopal congregations in Fort Worth -- All Saints- Fort Worth (5001 Crestline Road) and All Saints Episcopal (3290 Lackland Road) -- initiating a conflict resolution process as outlined in diocesan Canon 32. The letters call for a meeting on Thursday, March 26, of all members of both All Saints' parishes. The meeting is to be held in the nave of historic All Saints-Fort Worth on Crestline Road.

The rump diocese wants nothing to do with Bishop Iker's offer and quickly scotched the proposed meeting and immediately shot down the Canon 32 idea.

A.S. Haley, an attorney and canon lawyer in his own right, who writes as the Anglican Curmudgeon, again hit the ecclesial nail squarely on the head using a courtroom gavel to explain what is ultimately happening in the All Saint-Fort Worth dispute.

"Well, the lawyers got hold of the proposal," Haley elaborated. "... and you can predict what happened: 'Use Christian methods to resolve a dispute among Christians, as St. Paul directed us? No way! We prefer the secular courts, thank you!'"

The upshot is: "There will be no meeting called by the Defendant Iker at All Saints on March 26, 2015," wrote Thomas Leatherbury in a heated reply to Bishop Iker's attorney, David Weaver.

TEC's lawyer wants to "[c]ontinue the trial setting, which is currently set for the week of March 23, 2015." However, he also notes that he would entertain a "few months continuance of the trial" of the claims relating to All Saints ... "in the event mediation is not successful " ... as he has a busy schedule before the Texas Supreme Court and also has to participate in the accreditation of a Chicago-based law school.

Leatherbury is an attorney with Vinson & Elkins in Dallas. In part, his specialty is media -- print and broadcast -- litigation and he works with the law firm's appellate practice. His understanding of Judge Chupp's Feb. 20 request is that the two parties involved are to "mediate the case as to All Saints." He doesn't consider implementing Canon 32 as effectively mediating the case.

"Canon 32 has no application here ..." the Dallas attorney wrote stating that he would like to see All Saints-Fort Worth case resolved in a trial court "as efficiently and cost­ effectively as possible so that the parties may pursue an appeal."

Following Judge Chupp's March 2 ruling, Bishop High stated, "I remain very confident that we will ultimately prevail. This litigation is important to protect the legacy of generations of Episcopalians for future generations of Episcopalians." He, too, would prefer to continue to litigate rather than to equably hammer out an agreed upon settlement using the Canon 32 process.

In all likelihood, the third provisional bishop of Fort Worth will not be around to witness the end results of such continued court litigation and the anticipated on-going appeals process. Bishop High, originally a Diocese of Texas suffragan before he went to Fort Worth in 2012, announced his intention at the TEC Fort Worth's November 2014 diocesan convention to step down in late 2015. He is a recent widower as his wife of 50-plus years, Patricia High, died on March 4, two days following the judge's ruling in favor of Bishop Iker.

Disastrous annual parish meeting

Fr. Jambor ran roughshod over the membership of his All Saints-Fort Worth congregation leading up to the 2009 All Saints-Fort Worth Annual Parish Meeting, which is the flash point for the conflict. The priest axed staffers, hand-picked an anti-Iker vestry, ignored diocesan canons, openly defied his ecclesial authority -- Bishop Jack Iker -- and used a loyalty oath to coerce his clerical and lay staff to kowtow and toe the line.

The All Saints' loyalty oath called an "Oath of Office for Service at All Saints Episcopal Church in Forth Worth" is a document to be signed by all clergy as well as vestrymen, convention delegates, and staff members of the church.

Through his loyalty oath, Fr. Jambor forced the resignation of his assistant priest, the Rev. Zeke Rogers; his youth minister, Matthew Maples; and at least three vestrymen -- Chris Swartz and Dennis Ward, Class of 2011; and William Brackett, Class of 2010. There were other vestry resignations as he hand picked a new vestry to carry out his dictates in defying Bishop Iker and ignoring the implementation Canon 32.

At the time, Bishop Iker noted that, "No parish Vestry has the canonical authority to repeal or ratify constitutional and canonical actions of the Diocesan Convention," as he reached out trying to heal the growing conflicts.

All Saints-Fort Worth's loyalty oath calls for its signers to "solemnly engage to conform to the doctrine, discipline and worship of The Episcopal Church," even though that doctrine, disciple and worship of The Episcopal Church was becoming more and more ungodly, disordered and secular.

Repeatedly Bishop Iker has tried to work with All Saints-Fort Worth to facilitate an equitable solution. He has been rebuffed, sued in court, and even threatened.

On January 25, 2009, Fr. Jambor held a contentious annual meeting. Reports leading up to the meeting indicated that church volunteers were told to take a two-week vacation; several parishioners were denied early access to All Saints so that they could not prepare to serve in various lay ministries; more member(s) of the vestry resigned; other vestry persons were forbidden to attend an executive session unless they first signed a letter of support (not loyalty oath) affirming TEC and Fr. Jambor; resigned vestry members were threatened with litigation; other parishioners were denied their annual parish meeting vote because they have not formally pledged. It was also feared that no unbiased observer would be allowed to witness the 2009 All Saints-Fort Worth Annual Parish Meeting.

In the aftermath following the parish meeting, more than100 broken-hearted All Saints-Fort Worth members severed fellowship with their cantankerous rector. With heads held high, they were forced to leave behind the church that they, their parents, and grandparents had sacrificed to found more than 50 years before.

All Saints- Fort Worth was established in June 1946 by 19 dedicated souls; there were 33 communicants at year's end. Eventually, the small, but growing mission achieved parish status in January 1948. The classic blond brick church building, which is at the heart of the property ownership dispute, was completed and dedicated on All Saints' Day, November 1, 1954. Originally, it was located within the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. The Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth was not established until 1983 when it was carved out of the Dallas diocese.

St. Bartholomew's successfully leaves Diocese

Bishop Iker's predecessor, Bishop Clarence Pope (II Fort Worth), successfully used a similar canon to allow the entire congregation of St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Arlington to convert and become Roman Catholic. The Episcopal parish then became a Pastoral Provision Catholic Anglican Use congregation. The Pastoral Provision process was a precursor to the Anglican ordinariates.

In 1991, Bishop Pope allowed the high church Anglo-Catholics to leave the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth with their building intact. Today. the former St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church is known as St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church of the Anglican Use; it has been scooped into the Anglican ordinariate. It was successfully released by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth to join the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, again with their building and grounds fully intact.

TEC's Diocese of Fort Worth stats plummeted after the 2008 realignment. In 2003, there were 18,328 Episcopalians; 7,377 of those attended Sunday services. A decade later in 2013 -- according to the latest TEC figures available -- diocesan baptized membership hovered at 4,790 with an ASA of 1,480 reflecting a 74 percent dip in total membership figures and a corresponding 80 percent drop in Sunday church attendance. With each following year, the statistics become more dismal. Texas population figures indicate that Fort Worth showed a 40 percent increase in residents during the same time frame. In the years preceding the realignment, All Saints-Fort Worth had a high membership of nearly 2,200 with an ASA of more than 600. Today All Saints-Fort Worth has a baptized membership hovering around 1,600 and an ASA of fewer than 400 with a $1.4 million plate and pledge.

All Saints Episcopal desert years

The displaced All Saints Episcopal congregation originally landed at Arlington Heights Christian Church on Bryce Avenue where they also shared the worship space with All Saints Presbyterian Church.

For months, even years, the displaced All Saints Episcopal congregation had no permanent worship facility, no stable income, and no full time clergy to lead them through the desert. Now All Saints has relocated with Christ the King on Lackland Road, giving them both Episcopal worship space, a priest to minister to them, and a full parish life.

All Saints' newsletter announced last Lent that on March 19, 2014 and "for the advancement of the Gospel in Fort Worth, Texas, All Saints' Episcopal Church and Christ the King Anglican Church have formed a strategic alliance of cooperative ministry." All Saints' portable Church-in-a-Box days were over.

The two congregations have a shared history. At one point, Christ the King was a mission initiative of All Saints-Fort Worth. With Bishop Iker's blessing, the two congregations have again united in a common evangelistic mission to advance the Gospel in Fort Worth.
This was the best choice All Saints Episcopal could make at this point in their displacement since their beloved church and grounds on Crestline Road are still tied up in the courts. The church property litigation with Episcopal Church parties is likely to continue for several more years with attorneys for All Saints-Fort Worth again rejecting Bishop Iker's Canon 32 proposal.

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline