TORONTO (RNS) In a fight that mirrors church property disputes in the United States, a British Columbia judge has ruled in favor of a Canadian Anglican diocese in a legal battle with conservative dissidents.

The Nov. 25 decision may set a precedent as other groups attempt to secede with property assets as they depart the Anglican Church of Canada in a global conflict over homosexuality and interpretation of Scripture.

Justice Stephen Kelleher of the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled the Vancouver-based Diocese of New Westminster may keep possession of four church properties worth a combined $20 million ($18.7 million US). One of the churches, St. John’s Shaughnessy, is widely acknowledged to be the largest Anglican parish in the country.

Clergy and trustees of the four churches, which split from the diocese after its 2002 vote to authorize rites for blessing same-sex couples, had asked the court to give them control over their properties. The churches have joined a breakaway group called the Anglican Network in Canada, which is affiliated with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone of South America.

In his decision, Kelleher wrote that a parish “does not have authority to unilaterally leave the Diocese” and parish property “effectively remains within the Diocese unless the Executive Committee and Bishop agree to mortgage, sell or otherwise dispose of it.”

Cheryl Chang, legal adviser to the ANiC, said the parishes’ trustees and leadership would meet with their lawyers on Nov. 30 to examine the 98-page decision and discuss whether to appeal. The group has 30 days to decide whether to seek further action. “We would need overwhelming consensus from the congregations and the trustees” before pursuing an appeal, Chang said.

Debates over human sexuality have isolated the Canadian church, and the Episcopal Church in the U.S., from sister Anglican churches around the world. On Sunday (Nov. 29), Episcopal Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts announced that clergy in his diocese may officiate at same-sex weddings, which are legal in the Bay State.

Meanwhile, the Canadian dissident group did not emerge empty-handed. Kelleher ruled a $2.2-million ($2 million US) bequest from a former parishioner at one of the churches be held in trust for the “building needs of the ANiC congregation.”