Administrative commission to review Marion church that is suing presbytery
By Patrick Jean, August 10, 2007
The Presbytery of Western North Carolina has appointed an administrative commission to conduct a review of a church that went to court to prevent the presbytery or the Presbyterian Church (USA) from seizing control of the congregation’s property and assets.
Presbytery commissioners approved the seven-member administrative commission at their stated meeting July 31 in Gastonia, N.C. Commission members have not yet contacted First Presbyterian Church in Marion, N.C., said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Jim Wilken.
The action comes four weeks after the church was granted a temporary restraining order in McDowell County Superior Court pending a hearing in which the church is seeking a ruling that it, and not the presbytery or the PCUSA, owns its property. That hearing has yet to be scheduled, but a hearing on whether to convert the restraining order to a preliminary injunction is slated for Aug. 20, Wilken said.
Presbytery commissioners at the July 31 meeting received a one-page notice about the court case as an addendum to the meeting packet. The Rev. Dr. Don Scofield, chairman of the committee on ministry and pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Rutherfordton, N.C., highlighted key points of the notice for commissioners and provided additional details about the case.
Scofield referred to the court filing as a “sudden act which was a surprise act to us” – echoing language in the notice that calls the case a “sudden unilateral act.” He noted that presbytery representatives cannot go on the church property because of the temporary restraining order.
“And, so, this is a difficult situation,” he said. “We’re working through that.”
Time was allowed for commissioners to ask questions or speak for or against creating an administrative commission, but no commissioner spoke. The commission was approved on a voice vote. The entire matter comprised only about five minutes of the presbytery meeting.
Property is the issue, not disaffiliation
The issue pitting the church against the presbytery involves property rather than disaffiliation. It appears to originate from a letter, dated June 11 and sent to the moderators and clerks of session of all congregations in the presbytery, by the Rev. James Aydelotte, the presbytery’s stated clerk.
In the letter, Aydelotte wrote that in meetings held throughout the presbytery, “one question that regularly came up concerned property in our denomination. The essential point is this: A congregation owns its property, but that property is held in trust for the denomination.”
Aydelotte’s letter cited G-8.0201, the property trust clause in the PCUSA’s Constitution. In a comment on the clause, he wrote: “The above provision clearly means that no congregation can alienate or remove its property from the PCUSA without the consent of its presbytery.”
The church’s temporary restraining order cites the text of a resolution adopted by the church May 7, 1950, in which it states that the congregation, and not the presbytery or denomination, owns the property. That resolution reads as follows:
“Be it resolved: that the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Marion, N.C., be and hereby are authorized and directed to execute and deliver to the First Presbyterian Church of Marion, N.C., Incorporated, a deed conveying in fee simple to said corporation all the real property located in McDowell County, N.C., held by said trustees of the First Presbyterian Church, Marion, North Carolina, said deed to be drawn in such manner as to insure the absolute ownership of said property by said corporation as against any claim that any presbytery, Synod or General Assembly or any other ecclesiastical body whatsoever, may make” [emphasis in original].
The temporary restraining order cited “The Louisville Papers,” denominational documents that advocate taking harsh measures against a congregation seeking to have itself declared the owner of its property. In seeking the TRO, the congregation said it feared “immediate and irreparable harm through unilateral and forceful retaliatory action by [the presbytery] to padlock [the congregation’s] sanctuary and other buildings, seize and freeze … bank accounts, and completely disrupt and take over the local church.”
Highlights of TRO, complaint
The temporary restraining order states that the presbytery “and its officers, agents, attorneys and employees, and those in active concert or participation with them, shall not, in part or in whole, take possession of, trespass on, issue any public or private claim over, or take any action whatsoever to interfere directly or indirectly with the plaintiff’s sole and exclusive ownership and control of all of plaintiff’s real property and personal property pending a hearing following proper notice on whether the terms hereof should be converted into a preliminary injunction.”
The temporary restraining order also maintains “the status quo whereby plaintiff retains sole and exclusive ownership and control of all of its real property and personal property pending a hearing following proper notice on whether the terms hereof should be converted into a preliminary injunction for the remaining pendency of this matter.”
The church’s complaint seeks:
1. “A judgment declaring the rights of the parties regarding plaintiff’s properties, to wit:
- A. that Plaintiff is exempt from the ‘property trust clause’ by which defendant unilaterally claims, on behalf of the Presbyterian denomination, to have a trust over plaintiff’s properties; and
- B. that defendant has no trust or claim of any kind over any of plaintiff’s real or personal properties; and
- C. that plaintiff is congregational in regard to its properties and is thereby exempt from any control of any kind by defendant in regard to plaintiff’s properties.
2. “A judgment removing the cloud on the title to plaintiff’s properties that is asserted by defendant through its unilateral claim that plaintiff’s properties are subject to the denominational ‘property trust clause’ and through any other claims of defendant, as the administrative arm of the PCUSA, regarding any control over plaintiff’s properties.
3. “An immediate temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo of plaintiff’s long-standing exclusive control over its real and personal properties between the filing of this complaint and a hearing after notice to defendant as to whether to convert such order into a preliminary injunction pending a final hearing of this matter.
4. “A preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo of plaintiff’s long-standing exclusive control over its real and personal properties pending a final hearing of this matter regarding the plaintiff’s property rights and ownership and all issues raised by the pleadings.
5. “Such other and further relief that seems just and proper to the court under the circumstances.”
Full text of notice
Here is the full text of the notice that presbytery provided to commissioners at their July 31 meeting:
“On July 2, 2007, the local sheriff appeared at the presbytery office to deliver a more than 50-page legal document, informing the presbytery that a temporary restraining order against presbytery had been signed by a judge in McDowell County at the request of the session of the First Presbyterian Church of Marion, N.C.
- A. “In response to this sudden unilateral act, the leadership of your presbytery has:
- 1. “Requested the pastor and as many of the session as possible of the Marion church to meet with the committee on ministry anytime on Tuesday, July 10 (or with the coordinating council on July 11, 2007) to help presbytery understand better their motives and objectives in taking such legal action without any prior communication or discussion. After consulting with their attorney, they have refused to have any meetings with presbytery.
- 2. “Hired a competent attorney, since the legal order requires presbytery to appear in court, and has begun the process of briefing this lawyer – all of which requires time and money that, frankly, presbytery cannot afford and would rather use for mission work.
- 3. “Invoked the authority granted by presbytery at its October 2006 meeting for the chair of the committee on ministry and the general presbyter, in consultation with the stated clerk, to create an administrative commission (pursuant to Book of Order [clauses] G-9.0503-0505) for the First Presbyterian Church of Marion, N.C., with the following provisions:
- a. “Subject to the approval of the coordinating council at its meeting on July 11, 2007, the membership of this commission shall be:
- “Mary V. Atkinson, elder, Black Mountain
- “B. Wesley Garrou Jr., elder, Waldensian
- “J. Richard Hobson, minister
- “Anne C. Morgan, minister
- “Charles E. Reiley, elder, Grace Covenant
- “Albert D. Shaw Jr., minister
- “Eugene D. Witherspoon, minister, chair
- b. “The actions of this commission shall, at all times, be in compliance with any relevant court order and, of course, with any directives of presbytery.
- c. “This commission shall initially undertake a special administrative review (Book of Order [clauses] G-9.0408-0410); and, as appropriate, visit the Marion church and ‘inquire into and settle the difficulties therein’ (Book of Order [clause] G-9.0503(a)4, working always for reconciliation within Christ’s Church.
- d. “If the commission judges it necessary, it may also assume original jurisdiction (pursuant to Book of Order [clause] G-11.0103(s)), following all proper procedures.
- e. “The commission shall, through the committee on ministry, make a report of its actions at each succeeding presbytery meeting.
- B. “The above actions have been endorsed by the committee on ministry and the coordinating council. It is now requested that presbytery also endorse these actions at this meeting. As presbytery urged at its October 2006 meeting, ‘All concerned shall pray and work for the peace, unity and purity of Christ’s Church.'”
Patrick Jean is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at pjean@www.layman.org.