The Anglican pair

Title sits with the parish; the beneficial interest is asserted above it. The governing provision is Title I.7.4, adopted by General Convention in 1979 and known universally as the Dennis Canon: "All real and personal property held by or for the benefit of any Parish, Mission or Congregation is held in trust for this Church and the Diocese thereof in which such Parish, Mission or Congregation is located." Note that the trust runs to two beneficiaries at once — the national church *and* the diocese — which is a structural difference from the United Methodist and PC(USA) formulations, and which mattered when whole dioceses attempted to depart. The canon then adds the qualification that decides how it feels in ordinary times: the trust "shall in no way limit the power and authority of the Parish, Mission or Congregation otherwise existing over such property so long as the particular Parish, Mission or Congregation remains a part of, and subject to, this Church and its Constitution and Canons." A parish in good standing notices nothing. The interest materialises precisely when the parish tries to leave.

• governing document Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, Title I.7.4

Article XII is the province's answer to the Dennis Canon, and it has a final sentence that most summaries of it omit — including, until the constitution was read, this profile: "All church property, both real and personal, owned by each member congregation now and in the future is and shall be solely and exclusively owned by each member congregation and shall not be subject to any trust interest in favor of the Province or any other claim of ownership arising out of the canon law of this Province. Where property is held in a different manner by any diocese or grouping, such ownership shall be preserved." That last clause matters enough to change the answer. The rule is not that every ACNA congregation owns its building; it is that the *Province* asserts no interest, and that existing diocesan arrangements survive. A body assembled in 2009 from groups arriving out of several different structures — including dioceses that had held property at diocesan level — did not impose a single ownership model on them. So "mixed" is the honest value, and the variation runs by diocese rather than by state. The disclaimer is also carefully bounded in its own terms: it excludes claims "arising out of the canon law of this Province," and the province is not the diocese. Several dioceses have adopted their own provisions to close the same gap at their level, often headed "No Denominational or Diocesan Trust in Congregation Property," but those are diocesan enactments and were not surveyed.

• governing document Constitution of the Anglican Church in North America, Article XII, Ownership of Property (ratified 25 June 2026)
• governing document Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest, Constitution and Canons — 'No Denominational or Diocesan Trust in Congregation Property' (accessed 2026-07-31)

The vestry elects, and the bishop is entitled to be heard but not to consent. Canon III.9.3.a.2: "No Parish may elect a Rector until the names of the proposed nominees have been forwarded to the Ecclesiastical Authority and a time, not exceeding sixty days, given to the Ecclesiastical Authority to communicate with the Vestry, nor until any such communication has been considered by the Vestry at a meeting duly called and held for that purpose." So the requirement is procedural rather than substantive: names go up, the bishop has up to sixty days to say something, and the vestry must actually convene and consider whatever is said. Nothing obliges the vestry to agree. The one substantive check comes afterwards and is deliberately narrow. On written notice of the election, the Ecclesiastical Authority records it if satisfied "that the person so elected is a duly qualified Priest" who has accepted — and the canon then restricts what may enter that judgement: "Race, color, ethnic origin, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age... shall not be a factor in the determination." This makes the contrast with the Anglican Church in North America sharper than the two bodies' shared vocabulary suggests. There, no rector may be called or dismissed without the bishop's consent. Here the bishop gets a hearing and a qualification check. The body with the trust clause holds *less* power over the pulpit than the body without one.

• governing document Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church (2024, 81st General Convention), Canon III.9.3.a.2-3

The congregation calls and the bishop holds an absolute veto — which makes this a stronger episcopal check than the Episcopal Church's, and that is the reverse of what the property rules would lead a reader to expect. The provincial canon is one sentence: "No Rector may be called to or dismissed from a congregation without the consent of the Bishop. No other clergy may be called or dismissed from a congregation without consultation with the Bishop." A diocese may adopt canons not in conflict with that. Compare the two Anglican bodies directly, against the Episcopal canons as published. There, Canon III.9.3.a.2 requires only that nominees' names go to the Ecclesiastical Authority, that up to sixty days be allowed for it to communicate with the vestry, and that the vestry consider what it says — a hearing, not a veto. Here the bishop's consent is required outright, and required again to dismiss. So the province that took less power over buildings took considerably more over pulpits. Beyond that consent requirement the province devolves: "Norms for the calling, duties and support of Rectors and other Clergy, and the dissolution of a pastoral relation shall be provided by each Diocese."

• governing document Canons of the ACNA, Title I Canon 6 Section 4.1 — no Rector called or dismissed without the consent of the Bishop
• governing document Canons of the ACNA, Title II Canon 7 — norms for calling, duties, support and dissolution provided by each Diocese

The parish employs, pays and calls — but cannot dismiss. Once installed a rector has tenure, and the rectorship "shall continue until dissolved by mutual consent and affirmed by the Bishop or by arbitration and decision" under the canons. A vestry that wants rid of its rector must obtain consent or go to a canonical process; it cannot simply terminate. This is a fourth arrangement on the site's employment question, distinct from all three already recorded. A Southern Baptist vestry-equivalent hires and fires. A United Methodist congregation does neither. A Presbyterian congregation calls with a court's concurrence and cannot dissolve alone. Here the parish both chooses and pays, and is then bound to its choice more tightly than any of them.

• governing document Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, Title III, Canon 9, on dissolution of the pastoral relation

The congregation calls, pays and handles its own finances — every congregation "shall handle its own finances" under the canons — so it is the employer in the sense this field asks about. The qualification is that it can neither engage nor release its rector without the bishop's consent, which places it alongside the Presbyterian bodies rather than with the Southern Baptist case: the congregation hires, but not alone. One further feature has no parallel elsewhere on the site. The rector is not merely employed by the vestry; he presides over it. The presbyter in charge "shall always be a member of the governing board and its presiding officer except as provided by diocesan canon." The body that would in most traditions be the employer is chaired by the person it employs.

• governing document Canons of the ACNA, Title I Canon 6 Sections 3-5 — congregational finances, clergy consent, and the governing board

A diocesan bishop, elected once and serving without term or re-election until mandatory retirement — bishops must retire within ninety days of their seventy-second birthday. The enum's "life" should be read as "no term and no re-election" rather than literally until death; the same qualification applies to the United Methodist entry, which is the closest comparator. What distinguishes this body is the consent requirement. A bishop is elected by the diocese that will receive them, but the election does not take effect on the diocese's say-so: under Canon III.11.4(a) a majority of diocesan bishops *and* a majority of diocesan standing committees must consent, separately, within 120 days of notice. So every diocese holds a vote over every other diocese's bishop, and a standing committee elected by a diocesan convention hundreds of miles away can block a choice. Oversight here is neither purely local, as the election suggests, nor centrally appointed, as in the Roman Catholic case — it is peer-confirmed.

• governing document Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, Canon III.11.4(a), consents of diocesan bishops and standing committees within 120 days
• the body's own statement The Episcopal Church, glossary entries on consents for ordination and on standing committees (accessed 2026-07-31) — self-description

A diocesan bishop oversees the congregation, and the province leaves his selection and tenure to the diocese — which is itself the structural choice worth recording, since several member dioceses are affinity-based rather than territorial and arrived with their own arrangements. Where the province does legislate is over its own primate, and there the term limit is firm: the Archbishop is elected by the College of Bishops from among bishops with jurisdiction to serve a five-year term, and may be elected to "a second term of office but not a third." An Assembly is always held to mark the end of an Archbishop's five-year term. If the office falls vacant before a term completes, the Dean of the Province becomes Interim and the College elects a successor to a fresh five-year term. The enum records the term-limited pattern the province sets for itself. The qualification is real and should be read with it: for the diocesan bishop who actually oversees a given congregation, tenure is a diocesan matter, and no provincial mandatory retirement age was located in the constitution and canons.

• governing document Constitution of the ACNA, on the election of the Archbishop for a five-year term, and a second term but not a third
• governing document Canons of the ACNA, on the Assembly marking the end of an Archbishop's term and on interim succession by the Dean of the Province

No canonical route out exists, and what happened instead was two decades of litigation. Parishes and several whole dioceses attempted to depart in the 2000s and 2010s; the church's position was that neither a parish nor a diocese can unilaterally sever its relationship, and that the property is held in trust regardless. Civil courts divided on the second question, as set out under property above. "Contested" is the same value the PC(USA) carries, and for the same underlying reason: a constitution silent on departure plus a trust clause equals litigation. The difference is that the PC(USA) devolved a discretionary answer to its presbyteries through gracious dismissal policies, producing many negotiated settlements, while here the disputes more often reached the courts.

• governing document Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church, Title I.7.4
• secondary Overview of Dennis Canon litigation (accessed 2026-07-31)

At the level the constitution addresses, departure is unconditional. Article II.3: "Member dioceses (or groups of dioceses organized into distinct jurisdictions) are free to withdraw from the Province by action of their own governing bodies at any time." No vote threshold, no notice period, no consultation, no payment, no approval — and no time limit. Set beside the other departure provisions on this site, it is the least encumbered by a wide margin: the Global Methodist Church asks ninety days' discernment and a simple majority; the ELCA asks two supermajorities and four months; the Episcopal Church provides nothing and litigated for two decades. Here a diocese simply resolves to go. The limit on this entry must be stated. Article II.3 grants the right to *dioceses*, not to congregations, and this site's unit is the congregation. A congregation's departure is governed by its diocese, and the canons devolve those norms. So the value records the province's own settled position — nothing is owed on the way out — while the congregational procedure varies by diocese and was not surveyed.

• governing document Constitution of the ACNA, Article II.3 — member dioceses free to withdraw by action of their own governing bodies at any time