Dennis Canon - History and Purpose

History and Purpose

The Dennis Canon is named after the attorney and later Suffragan Bishop of New York Walter Dennis, who drafted it. It was passed by the 66th General Convention in 1979, having been introduced by the Committee on Canons of the House of Bishops as D-024 of that Convention.

The Dennis Canon was written in response to a general request from the Supreme Court of the United States that "General Churches" (also referred to as "Hierarchical Churches" - having centralized governance) more accurately express their trust interest in all property of their denomination. The "Dennis Canon" does this. Since all missions, parishes, dioceses and other Episcopal institutions exist at the express will of the people, represented by and through the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, The Episcopal Church thus has a trust interest with all of the above. All legal governing bodies (Diocesan Conventions, parish vestries, mission Bishop's committees, etc.) are thus (among other responsibilities) trustees on behalf of the whole Church, locally expressed.

Legally any officer of any official institution must maintain his/her fiduciary trust responsibility on behalf of the Episcopal Church. Thus attempts to transfer any property to another ecclesiastical jurisdiction, such as a so-called Continuing Anglican church violate U.S. law. Adoption of the Dennis Canon followed the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, when parishes left the Episcopal Church and attempted to retain the parish property for reasons including the admission of women to Holy Orders, the adoption of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and the belief that some bishops held heretical views