Thursday, February 18, 2016

Photos Of Parish Property

I took some photos of the parish property yesterday. The most important is this one, which shows the legal rector and the parish's affiliation with the Patrimony of the Primate:

I have forwarded copies of this via e-mail to David Virtue and Allison Cohen, editor of the Los Feliz Ledger.

As Fr Kelley indicated in his letter, the parish library has been stripped and the books presumably sold. My understanding is that there was a lengthy meeting with the vestry's counsel yesterday morning, and I assume this was among many topics covered:

There is evidence throughout the property of the peculiar priorities of the ACA-Bush squatter group. The undercroft parish hall appears to have had little or no use over the 3-1/2 year period, and all evidence of parish history was hidden away -- including the 20 years when the parish was in the ACA. All the portraits of past rectors had been hidden in the organ's bellows room! Here they've been rescued and are being re-hung:

Not only Fr Kelley, but all the others were Unpersons, apparently! Still on the floor and partly behind a chair is the Second Rector, Fr Jordan. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death, February 17, 1971.

A photo of a parish group under Fr Wilcox that had previously been hung in the parish hall was hidden unceremoniously among detritus behind the stage:

On the positive side, it appears that the squatter group simply did not expect ever actually to be evicted, and the property, other than the library and some of Fr Kelley's personal property, was intact -- and no provision had been made for removing financial records, which will give some indication of where the money went (and, of course, where it came from). UPDATE: These include unpaid utility bills and overdue property tax on the bank building since its evacuation, with penalties

An individual who had been a member partly during the Bush-ACA tenure said, however, that Mrs Bush had installed many hidden spy cameras throughout the building. (I didn't get a chance to have him point some out to me so I might take photos!). My wife and I think the dissident group was so untrustworthy that Mrs Bush knew they had to be spied on!