Nationwide campaign to seek contributions to fund property litigation expenses
The Layman Online, October 29, 2007
The Presbytery of Western North Carolina on Oct. 27 approved developing a national appeal for financial contributions to help defray its legal costs in church property cases.
The appeal, details of which are scheduled to be presented for further presbytery approval in January, will seek funding for “court actions for Montreat and other churches.”
After dismissing Montreat to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church earlier this year, the presbytery has been claiming that Montreat’s property is held in trust for the Presbyterian Church (USA), while the church insists it owns the property outright under state law.
In another case involving the presbytery, First Presbyterian Church in Marion filed a civil action seeking a ruling that it, not the presbytery or the PCUSA, owns its property.
As part of the civil lawsuits for which it is seeking financial contributions, the presbytery also apparently is targeting the Presbyterian Lay Committee and its longtime editor, the Rev. Parker T. Williamson.
In a pre-trial discovery request to the Marion church, the presbytery has requested that it produce:
“All communications, whether in the form of letters, memoranda, e-mails, or other forms of communication, between any officer, agent, or employee of plaintiff and the publication known as The Layman, or the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Inc. or its long-time editor/CEO Rev. Parker T. Williamson, or any of the officers, agents, or employees of The Layman or the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Inc., within the past five years.”
Although the PLC has had no official involvement in the Marion church’s activities, The Layman has been reporting on church property cases and providing resources for congregations.
On Jan. 31, 2004, the presbytery refused to validate Williamson’s ministry with the PLC. However, on Sept. 30 the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic overturned that action – a ruling affirmed by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission on April 4, 2005 – finding that the presbytery failed to provide him with “adequate due process and fundamental fairness.”