Miami First pastor renounces PCUSA, starts new church
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 14, 2000
MIAMI – An intense dispute between the Presbytery of Tropical Florida and the pastor and session of historic First Presbyterian Church in Miami ended dramatically July 9 when the minister renounced the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Presbytery bills pastor
$6,500 for month rent
The Layman Online
MIAMI – Through an attorney, the Presbytery of Tropical Florida has billed Michael Girolimon $6,500 for one-month rent of the manse owned by First Presbyterian Church of Miami.
The First Presbyterian session had approved a severance package that would allow Girolimon to remain in the manse at no cost for three months.
But Girolimon received a letter dated July 11 from Davis W. Duke Jr. of Duke, Mullin & Galloway, P.A., in Fort Lauderdale saying that Girolimon, his wife and their two children could not remain in the manse past August 11.
The letter said the trustees of the presbytery “have obtained a fair market appraisal of the rental figure, which is $6,500 per month, and will expect payment by certified or cashier’s check in that amount payable to Presbytery of Tropical Florida and delivered to presbytery or this office no later than Monday, July 17, 2000.”
Duke’s letter also said the presbytery’s trustees “voted to permit you and your immediate family to occupy the manse property for purely residential purposes” and that “you are not to conduct any services, ceremonies or meetings” at the manse. During the Sunday worship service, the Rev. Michael Girolimon, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and an evangelical who emphasizes leading people to Christ, told the congregation that he would immediately begin an independent congregation called Brickell Church.
Brickell is the name of the avenue that First Presbyterian faces. It is in the heart of Miami’s financial district, popularly called the “Wall Street of Latin America.”
Most loyal to pastor
Most of the congregation has demonstrated loyalty to Girolimon, and many are expected to join him in establishing the new congregation.
The decision to leave the PCUSA was provoked by the presbytery’s 80-39 vote on June 17 to appoint an administrative commission to oversee the congregation and consider whether to recommend that Girolimon be fired as minister.
After that decision, Girolimon said, “The session and I have been severely misrepresented by the Committee on Ministry. Facts were taken out of context. Our motives were impugned. The commissioners seemed confused about whom to believe, so they went with the system, supporting the Committee on Ministry.”
Since the presbytery’s vote, Girolimon and the elders have met several times to discuss their possible response. They considered complying with the requirements of the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry or taking their case to the Presbyterian court.
But session members recently received – anonymously – a copy of an e-mail sent by Edie Gause, interim presbytery executive, to members of the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry. That e-mail, dated May 2, one and one-half months before the June 17 presbytery meeting, outlined the steps that would be taken against Girolimon. It also said the committee could control his future status as a Presbyterian minister by refusing “to approve a new call until he has fulfilled the mandates laid down.” (The Presbyterian Layman left telephone messages for Gause, but she did not return the calls to answer questions about her e-mail.)
The e-mail was accompanied by an unsigned letter from “A Friend,” who said, “I support what you are doing at 1st Presbyterian Church. But this presbytery is a dangerous place for real believers.”
In the margin of the e-mail there were handwritten notes that indicated that Girolimon, once forced out of the pastorate, would get three months’ severance pay and be allowed to occupy the manse owned by First Presbyterian Church through Sept. 17. It is not known who made the handwritten comments.
The session of First Presbyterian considered Gause’s e-mail sufficient evidence to believe that presbytery leaders, who had never allowed Girolimon to face and answer his critics, were determined to oust Girolimon, thereby ending a ministry that had more than doubled weekly worship attendance in the last year. Elders also believed Girolimon was due more consideration than three months’ severance with a black mark on his record that would make it difficult for him to get another call in the PCUSA.
Letter to PCUSA official
Another document also entered into the collective decision to leave the PCUSA. It was a letter written by Zane K. Buxton of the Department of Constitutional Services of the Office of the General Assembly, which is headed by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.
In his letter, Buxton responded to a request for information from Claire Cubbin, Girolimon’s attorney. She was questioning the Committee on Ministry’s edict that Girolimon undergo examination by a psychiatrist of the committee’s choice and that, furthermore, the committee be allowed to brief the psychiatrist before the examination and receive a full report afterward.
The session and Girolimon opposed that requirement for a number of reasons, including the possible violation of his civil rights and a possibility that the committee could prejudice the psychiatrist. They chose instead to have Girolimon talk with a respected Christian psychologist, who found him well suited temperamentally and spiritually for the ministry.
In a letter dated June 20, Buxton said a definitive interpretation by the 1999 General Assembly supported the Committee on Ministry’s decision. He sent copies of his response to the presbytery and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.
With the presbytery appearing to have prejudged Girolimon’s case and Buxton’s letter supporting the committee’s tack, Girolimon and the session decided it would no longer be wise to pursue their case in the Presbyterian judicial system. The elders worried that Girolimon, his wife and their two children would be financially hurt by a limited severance and that his career could be permanently damaged if the case continued.
The session decided to give Girolimon eight months’ severance and two months’ pay for vacation and unused study time. A check for the full amount, less taxes, was written and deposited in a trust account established by Girolimon’s lawyer.
The reasons presbytery leaders have moved to oust Girolimon have never been fully explained. Some are based on private conversations with a handful of long-time members who disagreed with Girolimon’s style, especially his use of a band and contemporary Christian music during one of the Sunday worship services. The session and Girolimon asked repeatedly for an open hearing so that they could face the accusers, but the Committee on Ministry refused.
Another issue was that Girolimon had drawn people of various cultures – black, white, Cuban, Latin American and Asian. But, again, no one publicly charged him with any multi-cultural deviation.
Dr. Ken Harper, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Miami and regional coordinator for the presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, did tell The Presbyterian Layman that Girolimon was influenced by a book called The Purpose-Driven Church. The theme of The Purpose-Driven Church is that growth comes by preaching the Gospel and winning converts. Harper says, without elaboration, that many aspects of The Purpose-Driven Church are at odds with the “Great Ends of the Church” as outlined in the Book of Order.
Harper also seemed troubled by Girolimon’s past ministry. Girolimon began as an Assembly of God pastor, but, after receiving a master of divinity degree from Princeton, was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. At one point, Harper asked the six members of the session of First Presbyterian Church whether they spoke in tongues. Two said they did.
$30-million value
Finally, some observers believe the presbytery wanted to oust Girolimon to end the rapid growth at First Presbyterian Church and take over the property. The four-acre site, which backs up to Brickell Bay, is valued at an estimated $30 million. That’s what an adjacent site of the same size sold for.
Before Girolimon’s arrival, the leaders of First Presbyterian Church tried for six years to sell the property, but found no takers. One condition that may have stymied a sale was that First Presbyterian would require of the buyer bottom-floor space in a new high rise.
Current presbytery officials deny that they were forcing Girolimon out so that they could claim the property. However, according to Girolimon, a previous executive presbyter told him that he would be the last pastor of the church and the church building would close.
The Presbytery of Tropical Florida is hemorrhaging members – down 2,000 (to 18,000) in the last two years. With money from selling the First Presbyterian property, the presbytery could continue to fund its programs at current levels with fewer Presbyterians.