N.Y. church leaves with warning to PCUSA and presbytery: Don’t try to take over property
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, April 15, 2005
The leaders of a small congregation in the Catskills of New York have declared their independence from the Presbytery of Hudson River and the Presbyterian Church (USA) – warning the two higher governing bodies not to try to take their property.
In a strongly worded two-page letter to the presbytery, they said any move by the presbytery or the PCUSA to take over the property “will be deemed slander of title, compensable by damages, and any entry onto Ridgebury Church property by any officer and/or agent of the Presbytery of Hudson River shall be deemed criminal trespass.”
Six elders of what was known as First Presbyterian Church of Ridgebury – now the 29-member independent Church of Ridgebury – threw down the gauntlet in response to the presbytery’s plan to place an administrative commission in control of the church.
Even the name of the church, which is near Slate Hill, 76 miles northwest of New York City, is in debate.
A “special committee” of the presbytery, headed by the Rev. Richard Spierling, sent a letter to the church summoning its leaders to a hearing to determine “whether the session of the First Presbyterian Church of Ridgebury is unable or unwilling to manage wisely the affairs of that Church.” The hearing was scheduled on April 3.
A presbytery member not affiliated with the Ridgebury congregation faxed The Layman Online a copy of the elders’ response, including: “To the best of our knowledge, no Church bearing that title as its legal name has ever existed in Ridgebury. Our historical name has similarities if you have bothered to check the legal records, but your notice is of no effect.”
The elders’ letter also objected to planning a hearing on a Sunday. “We note that the notice you sent purported to hold this hearing you mentioned on Sunday, April 3, 2005, which is on the LORD’s Day, known as the Christian Sabbath. The activity you proposed is certainly not of such mercy or necessity as to require it being done on the LORD’s Day.”
Spierling, who is the interim pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, N.Y., told The Layman Online that the hearing date has been postponed to April 21, a Thursday. He said the presbytery’s “special committee” looking into the Ridgebury situation is not an administrative commission and that he does not know what steps will be taken if Ridgebury’s leaders shun the April 21 meeting.
In any event, the Ridgebury leaders told the presbytery that it should deal directly with their lawyer, Stanley Wayne of Wayne & Wayne in Walden, N.Y. The Layman Online attempted to reach Wayne by phone Friday, but an employee in his office said he was in court.
The letter by the Ridgebury leaders was a departure from the tack taken by many congregations that have decided to renounce the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Ridgebury’s leaders went on the offensive, contending that they would not relinquish their property under the terms of the property trust clause in the PCUSA.
Section G-8.0201 of the Book of Order says: “All property held by or for a particular church, a presbytery, a synod, the General Assembly, or the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), whether legal title is lodged in a corporation, a trustee or trustees, or an unincorporated association, and whether the property is used in programs of a particular church or of a more inclusive governing body or retained for the production of income, is held in trust nevertheless for the use and benefit of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).”
The Ridgebury letter – legally and theologically – summed up the church’s claim to ownership of the property in two paragraphs:
“The Word of God tells us several times that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Therefore, we have begun to be wise. By His grace and mercy we hope to continue. Wisdom requires that in all our ways we acknowledge Him. In wisdom, we have chosen to follow our LORD Jesus Christ rather than to follow the Presbyterian Church (USA). Wisely, we have reviewed our corporate and property records to determine our ownership of the property. Wisely, we have obtained legal counsel, title reports, and reviewed the neutral principles of law of this state. After much prayer and seeking the LORD’s leading, after due consideration and questioning of our legal counsels, we have disassociated from the PC(USA).
“Now, are we being wise? Have you obtained a title report which shows who owns our Church according to New York State law? Have you asked legal counsel whether the beneficiary of a trust can impose a trust or whether the testator must actually make the trust? Will you allow the members of the Presbytery to question your legal counsel about the ramifications of your actions? Will the members be allowed to question your legal counsel about the strengths and weaknesses of your legal theories? Or will you merely ask the members of Presbytery to blindly follow a course of action determined by – whom?
The letter also asked whether the presbytery had “counted the cost and weighed consequences of your action? How much are you planning to spend to try, in vain, to keep our church against its will? Why do you even want to keep our Church? You have not contributed to the building, care and keeping of our Church as we have.”
The Ridgeway leaders do not give a list of reasons for leaving the PCUSA. But they do compare their situation to the presbytery’s unwillingness to take action against congregations that openly defy the “fidelity/chastity” clause in the Book of Order. The Presbytery of Hudson River is a center for defiance against the constitutional ordination standard. Sixteen of the presbytery’s congregations publicly stated that they would not abide by the ordination law.
On that issue, the Ridgebury leaders wrote:
“God alone is Lord of the conscience. We cannot in conscience abide by the provisions of G-8.0201 (the so-called trust provision) since it is clearly contrary to His Word. Yet you claim you can appoint a commission to seize and take over our Church. Many of the churches of the Presbytery and the PC(USA) refuse to abide by the terms of G-6.0106b (the provision requiring fidelity or chastity in accordance with the Word of God), claiming it to be a matter of conscience. Do the members of presbytery realize that they are being asked to open the doors for Commissions to seize and take over those churches which do not abide by G-6.0106b?”
They said they have left the denomination “and all your efforts and expense will not bring us back. What have we to do with you? And what have you to do with us? The law of the State of New York has given us as Trustees of our Church the charge of ‘the estate and property belonging to such Church.’ The law of the State of New York does not permit you to arrogate our property to the PC(USA).”
They added, “You appear to have difficulty grasping the reality of the situation. We cannot be held as slaves to Presbytery. We have cited chapter and verse of our scriptural and legal position and you respond only with a generality. If it is closure you want, feel free to dismiss us.”
The letter quoted 1 Corinthians 6, which “enjoins Christians from going to law. Will you sue us anyway? Or will you abide by Scripture. … Lest you take precipitous action to your detriment, we give you this third warning.”
The letter concluded with admonitions not to try to take the property or to try to enter it.
In December 2002, the Hudson River Presbytery’s Circleville Presbyterian Church in Circleville, N.Y., renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. But, unlike Ridgebury, Circleville did not make a legal claim to its property and retained it only after paying the presbytery a negotiated settlement of $112,500.