Lawyer raises ‘serious questions’ about PCUSA’s property trust clause
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, July 24, 2006
TULSA – There are “serious questions” about the property trust clause in the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), an attorney told participants in the second annual New Wineskins Convocation.
The clause, G-8.0201 in the Book of Order, says:
“All property held by or for a particular church, presbytery, a synod, the General Assembly, or the Presbyterian Church (USA), 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 (USA).”
Through the presbyteries, the denomination has either required congregations leaving the PCUSA to pay settlements before being released to another denomination or has filed lawsuits against the congregations to claim their property.
But Forrest A. Norman III, an attorney from Cleveland, said he has “serious questions” about the property trust clause because “trust law varies state by state.”
Recalling one theme from the sermon preached by Jim Logan the night before, Norman said, “You can’t take things with you. You have to leave things behind. You have to let go.”
He said one of the songs Michael Card played that morning during worships was about the freedom one gets “from the things left behind. I’m here, though, to talk to you about keeping it.”
Church property, Norman said, “is not just the building, it’s also the land, the chattels, the communion cups, the bank account, endowment funds. Elders have been entrusted with watching over all of that for the local church, they are the trustees for the church.”
He said, “We have a dispute within our denomination. We have a division within our denomination. Our denomination is in a state of division with a theological left and a theological right. Individual churches are considering what their options are.”
Norman, a member of the board of directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, said many people are wondering what happens to their local church property and how can this property dispute be resolved. What elders, fulfilling their fiduciary responsibility, need to do, he said, is “to position yourself in the best possible light to hold onto your property, your church, your building, your endowment funds.”
He briefly went over topics covered the previous night during a presentation by Lloyd Lunceford and, like Lunceford, did not give any legal advice. Both attorneys said, however, that congregations need to be informed about their states’ trust and property laws and the possibility of revising their congregations’ articles of incorporation and bylaws.
Norman listed such items as state trust law, state property law, a congregation’s deed, its articles of incorporation, its bylaws and other documentation. He said a local church needs to determine whether its documents include wording that would assent to property claims by the denomination and whether trust clauses are revocable or irrevocable.
“In the event there is a denominational division,” he said, “and if for some reason you can no longer remain affiliated with the denomination, provide for that.”