Leaders of Falls Church Episcopalians who’ve remained aligned with the national Episcopal Church, after an archconservative majority from their local church voted to defect in 2006, said they were “saddened” by last week’s initial court ruling on who gets to control the historic church property. But they proclaimed in a statement, “With or without the ruling, we
remain the church, we will worship, and we will continue to reach out to those in need. We are reminded of the need now more than ever to proclaim our presence in Falls Church, and to reach out ever more diligently.” On the other side, a leader of the defectors proclaimed, “God has provided wonderfully!” Last week, Judge Randy Bellows of the Fairfax Circuit Court completed the first of three legal steps to determine if the “continuing Episcopalians”
or the defectors currently occupying the church site will have control of the site. He issued a lengthy ruling almost five months after a November 2007 trial that a Civil War-era Virginia statute, the socalled 57-9 statute, granting a local congregation the right to control the property it occupies would apply to the case involving the Falls Church defectors and 11 other “breakaway” con-
In an exclusive interview with the News-Press Monday, the foremost authority on economic trends in Northern Virginia drew a stark contrast between the state of economic affairs inside the Beltway, including in Falls Church, compared to regions outside it. Dr. Stephen S. Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University’s School for Public Policy, said that the greater Falls Church area of Fairfax County and its environs constitute “probably the strongest area” of the county and that housing there is already “showing some signs of stability.” On the other hand, he said economic conditions in the Northern Virginia regions to the west continue to worsen and cannot expect a turnaround for up to two years. As much of the U.S. heads deeper into recessionary conditions, things are “terrible” in areas such as Prince William, Stafford, Fauquier, Spotsylvania and other outlying counties, where there is a 20month backlog in home sales, compared to five months inside the Beltway, he said. Home sales in the Falls Church, Arlington and Alexandria areas “will pick up by September if they haven’t already,” Fuller forecasted, saying that for these areas, right now it’s as bad as it’s going to get. By contrast not only to outlying areas of this region, but to places like Los Angeles, Miami and Detroit, “new jobs are still being created here,” and the growth in unemployment has Continued on Page 4