It looks to this non-lawyer that the breakaway Anglicans in Virginia
(i.e. the Convocation of Anglicans in North America–CANA) were too
clever by half in removing the hem of their garment from the Episcopal
Church USA (TEC) and affiliating with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. In
ruling
against them today, the Virginia Supreme Court held that while a
division in a diocese can be ugly and contentious, only if you
constitute a bona fide division of TEC are you entitled to hold on to
your buildings. And you can’t be a division of TEC if you belong to the
Church of Nigeria. Q.E.D.

So it’s back to court the parties go.
Over at the Episcopal
Cafe, Jim Naughton’s immediate take is that this bodes very well
for the Virginia diocese and TEC. That’s because when it comes to
deciding on the merits a property dispute involving a hierarchical
church, Virginia case law is all on the side of the hierarchy. I presume
that in CANA-land, there is much gnashing of teeth and regret that they
didn’t just create themselves as an association of dissident
congregations within the diocese. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. History
doesn’t allow do-overs.