The settlement comes for a subset of the most recent litigation. In it, over the course of nearly a decade, the courts seesawed in a series of opinions and appeals over which vestry, one backed by the ACA or one comprising a group intending to enter the ordinariate, controlled the parish property.
The legal fees involved could be met only because the parish received substantial rental income from a commercial property it had developed in the 1980s. The successive vestries were able to use the income and the collateralized value of the commercial property to pay at least five teams of lawyers in successive lawsuits. But ten years of litigattion meant that this was more than even a multimillion-dollar commercial property could sustain.
Most recently, the victorious vestry, faced with the need to keep payments up on a loan that had been secured by the losing vestry to pay their own lawyers, refused to pay that loan on the basis that the losing vestry had no authority to take it out, since they'd lost. The lender obviously disagreed and wanted the loan repaid. This cycle of litigation went on for several years, delayed in 2020 by COVID.
The individual who contacted me said he'd known generally that talks were under way for an out-of-court settlement, but that the attorney for the lenders had contacted him just the other day to confirm that the settlement had taken place, saying only "St Mary bought out our liens (though at a steep discount) and sold one of the properties to fund it.”
The knowledgeable party interpreted this to mean that the ACA vestry was forced finally to sell the income-producing commercial property, leaving only the parcel on which the church building itself is located. But since such an out of court settlement is likely to be confidential, it hasn't been covered in local media, and this must be considered speculation by a party who has been close to the situation, but not privy to the current settlement.
However, legal actions over the past decade have resulted in the church parking lot being deemed part of the adjoining commercial property, so that the church no longer has any off-street parking available, in an area where any on-street parking is very difficult to find.
But the weekly offerings to the parish have never met its expenses without the rental income from the commercial property. I served briefly as the parish treasurer during its initial attempt to join the ordinariate, and weekly offerings from the several dozen regular members were in the $1000 range. Periodic total closure of the parish, its uncertain disposition, and the general controversy have decimated even this group. As of 2011, the parish's general expenses were in the $250,000 per year range. Utilities, heating, insurance, and maintenance costs on an aging building will continue.
A major part of the ACA's desire to keep the parish, we must assume, was the diocesan tithe from the annual rental income. It appears that the ACA has lost this (it probably never got much in any case), while the parish now continues as a potential major liability to the denomination. It can now only sustain very marginal, poorly supervised "continuinng Anglican" clergy who will inevitably be up to mischief.
But in addition, the church building is designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 136. According to Wikipedia, this does not prevent demolition or alteration. However, the designation requires permits for demolition or substantial alteration to be presented to a historic monument commission. The commission has the power to delay the demolition of a designated property for up to one year.
It's extremely doubtful that the parish can meet its continuing major expenses without the income from the commercial property, and its membership is probably minimal at this point. I would not expect it to survive as a corporate institution much longer.
