The Illinois Supreme Court today denied a petition by the Episcopal Church to review the ruling of a lower court which had found that certain property of the former Episcopal Diocese of Quincy now belongs to a breakaway group organized as the Anglican Diocese of Quincy.

“We are disappointed in this decision,” said the Rt. Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, bishop of the Diocese of Chicago. The former Episcopal Diocese of Quincy reunited with Lee’s diocese in 2013 and now constitutes its Peoria deanery. “My first concern is to attend to the pastoral needs of the faithful Episcopalians in the Peoria deanery, who have shown such grace and fortitude as the legal process has unfolded. We are aware of our legal options and will consider them in due course.”

The property at issue in the case is an endowment fund and a house adjacent to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Peoria.