Presbytery rejects COM recommendation to oust 2 ministers at Hollywood church
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, May 4, 2005
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – During a five-hour meeting at Covenant Presbyterian Church on Tuesday night, commissioners to the Presbytery of the Pacific rejected a Committee on Ministry recommendation that two pastors be ousted from their work at Hollywood Presbyterian Church.
The presbytery did, however, vote to name an Administrative Commission to oversee the ministry of the congregation. The commission was given the authority to take over governance of the church.
The Committee on Ministry had wanted the presbytery to vote to dissolve the calls of the Rev. Dr. Allen J. Meenan, the senior minister at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and the Rev. Dr. David Manock, the second-highest ranking member of the staff. But after emotional appeals by the two ministers, commissioners voted 98-73 in Meenan’s favor and 103-67 to allow Manock to continue serving the church.
No deadline was set for how long Meenan and Manock will continue at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, or how long the Administrative Commission will stay in place.
The presbytery first voted, by a vote standing head count, to appoint an Administrative Commission to provide oversight for the session. The vote on Meenan and Manock was by written ballot, so that they had no chance to know who their opponents were.
The Committee on Ministry had given the presbytery a 21-page report that included five major allegations.
- 1. “Dysfunctional personal relationships with staff, members of the Session and others.”
The committee had received “a large number of expressed concerns” in this area, but it did not identify the people who made the complaints. Besides Meenan and Manock, the name of only one other Hollywood Presbyterian Church member or employee was mentioned – Associate Pastor Tim Hartman, who complained that he was reassigned to other duties without the involvement of the session.
“They [Meenan and Manock] seek to wear people down, drive them off, isolate and demean those who disagree with them until they can move forward with their plans,” Hartman said, according to the Committee on Ministry report.
The report said the committee had received a “large number of expressed concerns raising issues related to the relationships between the Pastors and others.”
It contended that unnamed members and staff had complained that Meenan and Manock repressed dissent and were “arrogant,” “condescending,” “petty,” “ruthless,” “extremely defensive,” “angry,” “belittling,” “selfish and short-sighted.” Meenan was accused of being “narcissistic and ham-fisted” and “autocratic.”
- 2. “Development of an atmosphere intolerant of disagreement.”
The report included a number of unattributed quotes of accusations aimed mainly at Meenan. He was accused of being dictatorial, forcing the session to become a “rubber stamp” for his programs; alienating “wave after wave of one-time supporters;” and believing that “all who oppose him are lost in darkness and folly.”
- 3. “Mismanagement of FPCH finances.”
Again the committee cited, without attribution, comments of complaining members: “spending that seems uncontrolled or misguided;” a financial “disaster” in 2004; “financially the church is in a mess and the blame lies at the feet of Alan and David;” the deficit was “beyond belief;” the congregation was not kept informed of the increasing deficit in 2004.”
- 4. “A lack of candor and forthrightness with the Congregation with respect to issues existent at FPCH.”
The committee added that “it appears that the Pastors have not exhibited candor and forthrightness in their communications with the Session and the congregation.”
Further, it quoted a number of unidentified members, including one who said about Manock: “If you only heard him teach or pray, you would think he is wonderful. His ‘walk’ does not match his ‘talk.'”
- 5. “The development of division within FPCH, and the inability to work toward reconciliation.”
“It appeals that the Pastors are neither inclined nor equipped to work toward reconciliation among the various constituencies that call FPCH their church home.”
In a cover letter to the Committee on Ministry’s report, George Wilde, the committee’s chairman, declared that “the division within First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood is deep, and the focus for the Committee was, and remains, whether the leadership of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood is equipped to recognize the division and work toward reconciliation.”
Before the presbytery meeting, supporters of Meenan and Manock, who include large majorities of the congregation and session, gave an entirely different picture of the situation at the church.
Under Meenan and Manock, they noted, the congregation had ended a 20-year decline in membership and has begun to grow slowly. The low point was in 1999, when membership was 2,470. At the end of 2004, it was 2,760.
Their report does not deny the financial problems. “The 2004 income fell short of the budget by 29 percent,” they said. “This required the expenditure of our reserves and created a cash flow problem. Previous financial staff are no longer employed by the church, and a former HPC financial officer has been hired to address the financial concerns. The Session has also been working to resolve the fiscal issues by reducing program costs, possibly restructuring staff, consider the sale of off-campus church property and beginning a concerted stewardship campaign. Unfortunately, some of these efforts have been delayed because of the COM’s recent actions.”
Their report also noted that average Sunday income for fiscal year 2004-05 is the highest ever – $57,363 per week. The figure for 2003-04 that produced the deficit was $48,298 per Sunday.
Sixteen of the congregation’s 24 elders wrote a strong letter of objection to the Committee on Ministry, contending that the committee had not followed the Book of Order.
Citing a constitutional requirement that the Committees on Ministry “shall serve as an instrument of Presbytery for promoting the peace and harmony of the churches …,” the elders said the committee had abdicated its requirement to be a mediator. “This COM unilaterally decided that the Session of HPC should not even be consulted about the difficulties it was investigating.”
Their letter quoted one Committee on Ministry representative as saying that the committee was advised by the PCUSA’s office of Constitutional Services “not to speak to the session.” “Such advice, and the Committee’s casual acceptance of it, shows blatant disregard for the constitutional role of the COM defined by the Book of Order,” the elders said.
The elders said the session has responded to some of the church’s problems, including efforts to address the financial situation.
“However, much of our work has been hamstrung by the COM’s unconstitutional assertion of authority over our Session.”