Third Anniversary Of Attempted Seizure

April 9, 2012 was the date of the first attempted seizure of the parish by the ACA. It was Easter Monday of that year. The version I've been told is that Mr Kang called Fr Kelley in the rectory from from the front office, telling him that there were two letters from the IRS there, one with his name on it. Did he want to see them? (The actual notice from the IRS had in fact arrived the previous Friday and had been immediately passed on to the parish's accountant for resolution of the problem.)

However, there were no letters from the IRS. It was apparently a ruse, to get Fr Kelley up to the front, where Anthony Morello; the Creels from Morello's parish, All Saints Fountain Valley; Mr Kang; and Patrick Omeirs were lying in wait. Mmes Bush and Kang were just outside. They had the front door keys, which the group had used to enter the building.

Instead of the IRS letter, Morello handed Fr Kelley a "Notice If [sic] Inhibition" from Stephen Strawn. Fr Kelley retired to the sacristy to read the document. Mr Kang then quickly brought in a locksmith to open the door to Fr Kelley's inner office. Fr Kelley returned to the parish office and told the locksmith that what he was attempting to do was illegal. The locksmith recognized at once that he could lose his license and livelihood and ran outside. Fr Kelley called 911, which brought the Los Angeles police.

Mrs Kelley called Abp Falk in Iowa, who was completely taken aback at this turn of events. He spoke to the LAPD officers, explaining to them that Strawn had no authority to do this; the parish was part of the Patrimony of the Primate and not under either Strawn or Morello. The officers then sent the group away, saying there was no legal authority in Strawn's document, and besides, it violated California and LA City laws. No one on the elected vestry as of that date, other than Mrs Bush, was aware of this attempt beforehand. (Kang and Omeirs had by then termed off the vestry.) This was the first indication the elected vestry and the rest of the parish had of Mrs Bush's true role.

Although Andrew Bartus was not present, he had made an appointment the previous week with my wife and me to meet with us at our home the next day, April 10. With the failure of this first seizure attempt, he simply didn't show up to meet with us then, though he didn't cancel the meeting. My wife and I assume that Bartus had worked with Mrs Bush and the ACA group to choreograph the seizure, and the purpose of his April 10 meeting with us would have been to inform certain parishioners of the fait accompli, with Bartus now installed as priest-in-charge. But when the plan fizzled, Bartus seems basically to have said, "Never mind."