Chaplain lawsuit vs. Anglican Church in North America tossed

Federal judge Bruce Hendricks this week dismissed a chaplain agency’s lawsuit against the Anglican Church in North America, or ACNA. The Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy, which endorses Anglican chaplains, had accused ACNA of infringing on its trademarks, misrepresenting its corporate identity, interfering with chaplains’ contracts, and other business-related violations. But Hendricks wrote that the case was too intertwined with church law to be merely a corporate dispute. Church autonomy doctrine consequently barred him from making a ruling in the case, he added.

The lawsuit stemmed from the chaplain agency’s attempt to disaffiliate from ACNA last year. The agency said it was a separate entity from ACNA, and it told the denomination to stop using its trademarks and contacting its chaplains. Meanwhile, ACNA maintained that the agency was under its control and that church law prevented the agency from disaffiliation. It chose a new bishop to replace the agency’s leader and make other changes.

During the litigation, ACNA agreed to stop using the chaplain agency’s trademarks, according to court documents. However, the lawsuit’s dismissal leaves the agency’s status and the ownership of the trademarks unclear.

Why did the chaplain agency attempt to break away from ACNA? The denomination accused the agency’s leader, Bishop Derek Jones, of abusing church power and ordered restrictions on his ministry. The agency argued that Jones was unfairly targeted for calling out problems in the ACNA archbishop’s office.

The ACNA placed the archbishop, Stephen Wood, on leave over misconduct allegations soon after the chaplain agency tried to leave. Wood’s church trial ended in early September, but the ecclesiastical court has not decided the case. That ruling is expected to come by Dec. 21 at the latest.

Dig deeper: Read my prior report on the chaplain agency’s attempt to leave ACNA.