Diocese to sell parish properties for an estimated $15 million.
The church at the center of one of the longest legal battles in the Episcopal Church, St James Newport Beach, is to be sold. The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles told the remnant congregation on 17 May 2015 that the diocese was close to closing on a deal to sell the property to real estate developers for an estimated $15 million. A spokesman for Bishop Bruno told the Orange County Register worship at the site located at 3209 Via Lido would continue through the summer. However the diocese did not state whether the church would reopen in a new location after the building was sold. In 2004 the congregation broke with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. A series of lawsuits followed including a trip to the California Supreme Court. But in August 2013 three days before the case was to go to trial, Orange County Superior Court Judge Kim Dunning granted a motion filed by the diocese and ruled the diocese was the owner of the property.
