A state judge in Virginia has ruled that conservative congregations that broke away in 2006 from the Episcopal Church and affiliated with the Anglican Church of Nigeria may keep their church properties. It sounds like the diocese will appeal to the Virginia Supreme Court, but the decision seems rather tightly written and unambiguous.

The decision affects 11 churches in all, including the Falls Church, where George Washington was a member of the vestry in the 1760s.

I wrote about the continuing split in the Anglican Communion a few days ago from Jerusalem, where a conservative Anglican gathering is underway. Needless to say, the mood among the Americans here at GAFCON, as the conference is known, is a joyous one. In fact, I was sitting in a bus with the senior warden of one of the churches in Bethlehem, near the Church of the Nativity, when he learned of the news. One could not imagine more poignant, even providential, timing.