Corinth church case moves to federal court
By Patrick Jean, February 19, 2007
A member church’s lawsuit is preventing St. Andrews Presbytery “from meeting and performing its duties under the Book of Order,” an attorney for the northern Mississippi presbytery argues in a filing that moved the case from civil court to federal court.
J. Hale Freeland, an Oxford attorney who represents the presbytery, filed a notice of removal Feb. 13 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Eastern Division. That automatically transferred the case from Alcorn County Circuit Court, where a hearing had been scheduled Feb. 15 on whether to grant a preliminary injunction.
Attorneys for First Presbyterian Church in Corinth, Miss., have 30 days to respond. Everett E. White, a Jackson attorney who represents the church, said a response is being prepared for filing.
First Presbyterian filed suit Feb. 5 against the presbytery, seeking a declaratory judgment that it owns its property without interference by the presbytery or the Presbyterian Church (USA). Judge Thomas J. Gardner III issued a temporary restraining order the same day.
Walker W. “Bill” Jones III, another Jackson attorney who represents the church, said the lawsuit aimed to prevent the presbytery from taking action at its Feb. 6 stated meeting against the 475-member congregation. The Rev. Dr. Don Elliott, First Presbyterian’s pastor of 21 years, said the presbytery at its meeting authorized Freeland to respond and appointed its Presbytery Council and the Rev. Dr. Gregory A. Goodwiller, its executive presbyter and stated clerk, as its representatives in legal proceedings.
The presbytery’s notice of removal cites two sections of the United States Code in having the church’s lawsuit moved to U.S. District Court:
- 1. Title 28, Section 1331, which states that, “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.”
- 2. Parts (b) and (c) of Title 28, Section 1441.
- Part (b) states that, “Any civil action of which the district courts have original jurisdiction founded on a claim or right arising under the Constitution, treaties or laws of the United States shall be removable without regard to the citizenship or residence of the parties. Any other such action shall be removable only if none of the parties in interest properly joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the State in which such action is brought.”
- Part (c) states that, “Whenever a separate and independent claim or cause of action within the jurisdiction conferred by section 1331 of this title is joined with one or more otherwise non-removable claims or causes of action, the entire case may be removed and the district court may determine all issues therein, or, in its discretion, may remand all matters in which State law predominates.”
Timeline of dispute
Federal court is the latest stop in a seven-month dispute involving the church, the presbytery and the PCUSA. A timeline is as follows:
- July 9, 2006 – First Presbyterian session tells the congregation that the church “cannot stay in the PCUSA as it stands now.”
- July 31, 2006 – Session calls for a six-month “season of prayer and discernment” to determine whether it would remain in the PCUSA.
- Nov. 28, 2006 – Session recommends to the congregation that “we go in the direction of leaving the PCUSA in 12 to 18 months or less and moving to a new place in another Presbyterian and Reformed denomination.”
- Jan. 23, 2007 – Session shares the resolution with the Committee on Ministry of St. Andrew Presbytery.
- Jan. 24, 2007 – Committee sends letter to Elliott. The letter, signed by committee Moderator Frank Chiles, informed Elliott of the committee’s pending report at the Feb. 6 presbytery meeting that it “has directed the Executive Presbyter/Stated Clerk to begin the necessary legal proceedings to determine the presbytery’s legal rights, and specifically to seek a declaratory judgment as to whether the courts in the State of Mississippi will recognize and uphold our constitution’s trust clause.” The letter also warned Elliott that “actively advocating for a congregation’s withdrawal from the PCUSA is not an approved work.”
Points of contention
In addition to seeking ownership of its property, the church in its lawsuit asks for “injunctive relief” to keep the presbytery from “taking any action against First Presbyterian’s officers.”
The presbytery’s notice of removal argues that “the relief Plaintiff seeks is largely related to preventing the Presbytery from meeting and performing its duties under the Book of Order … and thus asks the Court to block the free practice of religion and assembly in contravention to the protections of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”
Goodwiller has said the presbytery is seeking to protect the First Presbyterian property for those in the congregation who wish to remain in the PCUSA.
The church’s lawsuit argues that the following property trust clauses in the PCUSA’s Book of Order do not apply to First Presbyterian and are “not enforceable under the Constitution or the laws of the State of Mississippi:”
- G-8.0201, which states that, “All property held by or for a particular church … is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”
- G-8.0600 and G-8.0301, which according to the denomination let PCUSA presbyteries dictate ownership of local church property within the presbytery’s geographical bounds – including the property of churches that have disaffiliated with the PCUSA.
The presbytery’s notice of removal argues that, “Importantly, though at times couched as a dispute over property, this is in fact a dispute over Church polity and doctrine.”
Federal questions
The notice of removal argues that the church’s lawsuit raises federal questions that “include, but are not limited to:”
- “Whether a court may become entangled in ecclesiastical issues and circumvent the free assembly of an administrative commission formed in accordance with … the Book of Order.”
- “[W]hether a Presbytery’s administrative commission may freely discuss issues relating to the First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, Mississippi, and resolve a conflict among the members of that church, its elders, its ministers of the word and sacraments, and the Presbytery of Saint Andrew.”
- “Whether a court can make ecclesiastical determinations relating to the relationship between a church, its Ministers of the Word and Sacraments, its session and the Presbytery, including who may serve as Ministers of the Word and Sacrament and as church’s session and … whether the Presbytery has a role in making these determinations in accordance with the Book of Order.”
- “The free exercise of religion protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution by attempting to preclude the Presbytery from addressing questions relating to the governance of its congregations and the conduct of its sessions and minister members to which all the ministers and elders agreed to submit to when they were ordained and installed in their respective offices as required by the Book of Order.”
- “The Plaintiff’s right to hold and use the property upon which the First Presbyterian Church of Corinth, Mississippi sits for its own purpose, apart from the religious purposes of the Presbytery. … [H]ere, the underlying issues concern ecclesiastical governance founded upon Presbyterian belief and religious doctrine.”
The notice of removal makes a final argument that the church’s case for seeking control of its property is “based on a cause of action which is on its face improper and based on a religious polity dispute.”
“There can be no doubt from its pleading that Plaintiff’s Complaint is asking the Court to go far beyond resolving the property issues, and to prevent the Church from forming commissions, overseeing ministers, and even meeting to obey its Book of Order. Of course, these are religious issues over which the Court has no jurisdiction and in which the Court is prohibited.”
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@www.layman.org.