Panel to present summary report on Circleville church case May 18
The Layman Online, April 19, 2002
An administrative commission investigating a request by Circleville Presbyterian Church in Circleville, N.Y., to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) is scheduled to present its recommendation in the case May 18.
The congregation, one of the first Confessing Churches, said it was faced with the possibility that its survival requires separation from the denomination. It voted 72-2 on Dec. 30, 2001, to request separation and to affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
In response, and over the objections of the pastor and congregation, the Hudson River Presbytery voted Jan. 29, 2002, to establish an administrative committee in the case. The results of a written ballot were 123 votes yes, 21 no and two abstentions. In March, that commission presented a progress report and scheduled the next presbytery meeting as the date it will present its recommendation.
The recommendation will be presented during a meeting of the presbytery at Scarborough Presbyterian Church in Scarborough, N.Y. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m.
Previously, Pastor Leo Jaloszynski told The Layman Online that he and the elders had hoped the Confessing Church Movement would provide an evangelical buffer to counter some of the problems created by the presbytery and the denomination.
Circleville is a congregation with a deep commitment to evangelical missions and social ministries. The congregation has 100 members, but more than 200 attend worship services. Contributions average in excess of $2,500 per member annually – more than triple the denomination’s per-capita giving.
The Hudson River Presbytery is one of the most liberal presbyteries in the nation. Nearly 80 percent of the commissioners voting at a recent meeting of the presbytery opposed the PCUSA’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard. Some pastors and sessions have said they are openly defying the standard.
The presbytery moved into the PCUSA’s national limelight in 1999 when it authorized ministers to conduct services to bless same-gender couples.
Since then, several ministers in the presbytery have promoted the services to bless same-gender couples. That prompted Circleville to pay for a full-page advertisement in Circleville’s local newspaper to set itself apart theologically from those congregations.
Some members have left the Circleville church and others have reduced their contributions. Because of declining gifts, Circleville has cut its worship services from two on Sunday mornings to one (to save on heating costs) and stopped construction of its 7,500-square-foot family life center that is two-thirds complete.
“We’re losing good people,” Jaloszynski said.
Jaloszynski said one of the concerns among members of his session and the congregation is that there is no discipline in the presbytery. “There are 16 churches in open opposition to the Book of Order,” he said.
Jaloszynski’s concern is being echoed across the denomination in the wake of a decision by Redwoods Presbytery in California to ordain Kathleen Morrison. Morrison has defied the PCUSA Constitution by declaring herself a lesbian in a “partnership,” which, she told The San Francisco Chronicle, includes sexual activity.