Kirkpatrick’s latest ‘musing’ reinforces property strategies
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, November 27, 2006
Add to General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick’s growing list of decrees about dealing with congregations considering leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA) “Constitutional Musings: Note 12.”
He titles his musing “Responding Pastorally to Troubled Churches.” But it’s neither a “musing” – “to turn something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively” (Merriam Webster) – nor pastoral.
The gist of Note 12 is that presbyteries ought to take their time but do a thorough job to convince “troubled” congregations that they are wrong about wanting to leave the denomination. But if the congregations persist in seeking a way out, Kirkpatrick sticks to his guns: “Sometimes a presbytery will find it necessary to discuss the painful risk that a session/congregation may come to desire to withdraw from the PCUSA.”
Kirkpatrick and the lawyers who work for him previously made clear what the “painful risk” involves for a congregation that wants to leave: takeover by the presbytery, ouster of the minister and session, confiscation of property, civil lawsuits naming church leaders as defendants, and perjorative description of the “schismatics” who believe the PCUSA has abandoned its Biblical heritage.
He has been asked to act pastorally and repudiate those tactics, which many say are unchristian, but Kirkpatrick doesn’t yield to their pleas in his “musing.”
Instead, he commends the policies adopted by Wabash Valley and New Covenant presbyteries. “The Presbyteries of New Covenant and Wabash Valley consulted with our offices in developing such policies and we commend such models to presbyteries,” he says.
Wabash Valley and New Covenant follow the Kirkpatrick strategy but with kinder, gentler terminology.
For instance, Wabash Valley appeals to the language of reconciliation, connectionalism and loyalty to the PCUSA, before expressing its intent to “protect the rights of persons loyal to the PCUSA. If a congregation appears intent on separating, the presbytery will work with it toward a mutually agreeable settlement, provided that the congregation leaders communicate fully, work in good faith, and protect the rights and interests of persons loyal to the denomination.”
Similar the Wabash Valley language, Kirkpatrick’s lawyers suggested presbytery counsel use “spiritual language” when they addressed civil judges in PCUSA lawsuits to claim local church property.
Many of the leaders of congregations considering leaving the denomination believe the offense lies not in their plans, but in the denomination’s drifting from its Reformed and Biblical heritage. And they question whether they are responsible for “protecting the rights” of “persons loyal to the denomination.”
Both the Wabash Valley and New Covenant policies make provisions for appointing administrative commissions that would take over control of the local congregation. In addition, the New Covenant policy calls for full financial disclosure by the local congregation of its property and assets.
“We sadly recognize that there are occasionally situations where sessions and congregations do accurately understand the policies and stances of the PCUSA and simply disagree with them,” Kirkpatrick says in the No. 12 Musing. “When a presbytery encounters such a situation, it may well be time for the presbytery to engage the session/congregation on a new level.”
In most of the recent cases, congregations do not begin by announcing to presbyteries that they’re planning to leave the denomination because they’re familiar with the denomination’s strategies (“The Louisville Papers”) and the likely repercussions from prematurely informing others.