Ryan Reed (bishop)

Reed's early episcopacy was dominated by the resolution of the long-running litigation between the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Episcopal Church. In May 2020, the Texas Supreme Court overturned an appellate court decision awarding the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth's property, valued at over $100 million, to the Episcopal Church-affiliated diocese.[3] The court ruled that resolving the property dispute did not require ecclesiastical questions but that "under the governing documents, the withdrawing faction is the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, and the trial court properly granted summary judgment in the withdrawing faction's favor."[10] The court's ruling also affirmed the ACNA diocese as the owner of the diocesan name and seal, and the Episcopal diocese renamed itself the Episcopal Church in North Texas.[11] Reed declared Pentecost Sunday 2020 to be a day of fasting and rededication in the Diocese of Fort Worth.[12]

In the fall of 2020, the Episcopal Church appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case in February 2021.[13] In April 2021, the Diocese of Fort Worth received possession of six church properties previously occupied by the Episcopal Church in North Texas that had not settled with the diocese prior to the commencement of litigation by the Episcopal Church in 2008.[14] Some of the churches returned were stripped of personal property, down to the pews, altar fixtures, crucifixes, sheet music and kitchen appliances in some cases.[15] The Texas Supreme Court in September 2021 ordered all personal property returned to the ACNA diocese within seven days,[16] although some legal proceedings continued.[17] With the return of property, the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth began replanting new congregations in the buildings, which Reed noted had been vacant for more than a year due to virtual worship during the COVID-19 pandemic.[14]

That summer, the Episcopal Church paid $4.5 million in legal fees to the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth in a mediated settlement.[18] "The Diocese made every attempt to avoid this litigation, beginning before its dissociation from TEC in 2008," Reed said. "Unfortunately, negotiations ended abruptly after three church properties were released to TEC-majority congregations when the Presiding Bishop and local TEC leaders brought suit in April 2009, foreclosing on the possibility of any other settlement. As we put more than a decade of litigation behind us, we can once again devote ourselves to sharing the transforming love of Jesus Christ and our mission to equip the saints for the work of ministry. We look forward now in hope and trust for Christ’s leading."[19] ACNA parishes that had been legally constrained by Episcopal Church objections from undertaking new construction were also free to resume these projects.[19]