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The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and All Saints Episcopal Parish in Attleboro are suing the breakaway All Saints Anglican parish and its pastor, the Rev. Lance Giuffrida, over money the diocese claims was wrongfully used.

The civil suit filed this week in Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River alleges the Anglican parish used or kept about $200,000 that rightfully belonged to the Episcopal parish that remained at the North Main Street church after the Anglicans left in late January on the order of Bishop Thomas Shaw.

The suit asks not only that the money be repaid, but also that Giuffrida personally be ordered to repay a $10,000 loan initially granted to him by the parish to help him buy his house when he was first hired several years ago.

In a motion filed with the suit, the diocese is seeking a $17,600 attachment to Giuffrida's Attleboro home to cover the $10,000 loan and about $7,600 in salary paid to Giuffrida from the disputed funds.

Attleboro attorney John Jacobi, who represents All Saints Anglican, said Thursday he could not comment on the lawsuit because he had not yet seen the complaint. Giuffrida, who was served with the suit late Thursday afternoon, would not comment on the particulars, but said that despite the suit, he would still be willing to discuss the issues with the diocese out of court, which his parish has attempted to do in the past.

The suit comes just as All Saints Anglican is preparing to buy the former Hebron United Methodist Church on South Main Street, now known as the Hebron Village Outreach Center.

As part of the lawsuit, attorneys for the diocese have asked for a preliminary injunction to freeze the assets of the Anglican parish to prevent the use of any disputed funds toward the building purchase.

A hearing on the request is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River.

Besides Giuffrida, the suit names 18 parishioners who served as wardens or members of the vestry, which is the parish's governing body, and it also names the Lesser Franciscans, a religious organization affiliated with the Anglican parish.

The suit alleges that approximately $111,863 was transferred from parish funds to the organization and put into an escrow account to later use for salary and expenses after the split. It also alleges that another $85,000 in parish funds were withdrawn for use by the Anglican congregation.

Giuffrida and the vestry at All Saints voted in mid-September to separate from the liberal national Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, and to align with the conservative Anglican Mission in the Americas, which is not recognized by the national church.

Similar splits are happening across the country over theological issues centering on biblical authority and how that applies to issues like gay clergy and same-sex marriage.

Orthodox Anglican bishops in Africa and elsewhere are offering oversight to breakaway parishes, and the Washington Post recently reported that up to 250 of the 7,000 congregations in the U.S. church have come under their jurisdiction.

After voting to separate in September, the Attleboro Anglicans initially remained in the North Main Street church and tried to buy the property from the diocese. But Shaw notified the parish in December that their actions to leave the Episcopal Church violated church laws. Then in January, he ordered the Anglican congregation to leave. All Saints Anglican is now using rented space at Fisher College in North Attleboro until the congregation can buy the former Hebron church.

Meanwhile, the Episcopal parish was revived at the North Main Street church, and diocesan officials began reviewing financial records and accounts, then later announced that an audit would be conducted because some records were missing or incomplete.

Both sides had been corresponding over the financial issues, and the last letters were exchanged in March.

The Rev. Gregory Jacobs, the diocese's staff officer for urban ministry development, said Thursday the diocese decided to file the lawsuit because it felt there had been no adequate response to its attempts to settle the financial issues.

The diocese, he said, has the obligation to protect the assets that rightfully belong to All Saints Episcopal parish that has reestablished itself at the North Main Street church.

If the lawsuit is successful, any money repaid by the Anglican parish would go to the Episcopal parish, he said.

Under national and diocesan canons, he said, property and assets are held in trust for the benefit of the diocese. By leaving the Episcopal Church, the Anglican congregation breached that promise and had no right to use assets to benefit an organization not affiliated with the national church.

According to Jacobs, the timing of the lawsuit was motivated in part by the Anglican parish's intent to buy the former Hebron United Methodist Church. The sale is expected to be finalized soon.

Jacobs said the diocese was concerned that some of the money that it believes belongs to the Episcopal parish would be used to buy the property.

"The only way under the law to prevent that is by a preliminary injunction," he said.

The Anglican congregation has reportedly been raising money specifically for the purchase of the former church. Jacobs said if that is the case, it will be up to the congregation to show that the funds were raised for that purpose and kept separately.