Episcopal Church in Battle Over Name

Officials of the Episcopal Church and a group of conservative leaders within the church are locked in a dispute over the group’s use of the denomination’s historical name, the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

The conservatives — disgruntled over what they see as a movement by the church away from the denomination’s orthodox teachings — last month announced the formation of a new non-profit organization that uses the name.

Calling the move a “misleading and unfair use” of the church’s name, denomination officials asked the conservative group, known as PECUSA, to drop the moniker, but the group refused. A spokesman for the church says that it is considering a lawsuit to protect the use of the name.

Church officials are particularly worried that the use of the name by another organization will cause confusion in fund raising. Contributors, they say, might believe that they are giving to the larger church body when they are not.

In 1996, the Episcopal Church’s national office, parishes, and dioceses raised about $1.4-billion. The church has 2.4 million members.

A spokesman for PECUSA says that the group, which represents about 60,000 Episcopalians and has filed papers to do business in all but four states, has already informally sought gifts and expects to spend about $300,000 this year.

The denomination’s constitution, adopted in 1789, lists its name as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. But the church never incorporated under that name, instead using the name the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA. It is known more commonly as the Episcopal Church.