Houston congregation appeals
property case judgment
By Edward Terry, The Layman, October 13, 2010
Windwood Presbyterian Church in Houston has appealed the recent judgment in its property case against the Presbyterian Church (USA) and Presbytery of New Covenant.
The District Court of Harris County, Texas ruled against the 1,600-member congregation, which had asked the court to declare its rights to its property. The denomination and presbytery countered that Windwood’s property – which includes several buildings, a school and athletic fields on 57 acres – is held in trust for the PCUSA.
The court agreed, declaring that the PCUSA is a hierarchical denomination and Texas law applies the “hierarchical deference” rule to such cases. In states that use the “neutral principles” rule, courts commonly rule in favor of the congregation in property disputes. 
Courts have ruled that Windwood Presbyterian Church’s sprawling campus on a busy corner in northwest Houston is held in trust for the Presbyterian Church (USA). The congregation’s trustees plan to appeal the decision.
“Their argument was that the state Texas is a hierarchical deference state and the Presbyterian Church is a hierarchical church, two facts which we believe are in dispute,” said the Rev. Kevin Rudolph, Windwood’s pastor. “But the judge did not see it that way. We’ll find out if the appellate court does.”
In its Oct. 6 request for a new trial, Windwood claims that the court erred in granting the summary judgment favoring the presbytery and denomination. Windwood argues that the PCUSA policy is in dispute and that Windwood is only seeking property disposition.
“Texas has ‘deferred’ to hierarchical denominations only to the extent a question of the identity of a church or faction is in dispute (there is no such dispute here), while property disposition has always been controlled by instruments of title and state law,” according to court documents. “To rule that ‘hierarchical deference’ encompasses more would run afoul of both Texas law and the U.S. constitution.”
Windwood also claims that “hierarchical deference” as put forth in the case violates the U.S. and Texas constitutions by favoring one type of denomination over another.
In its legal documents, the defendant argues that Windwood should have sought an amendment to the Book of Order for relief from the “trust clause,” but instead sought relief in secular court. The defense also backs its claim that the PCUSA is hierarchical by citing several Texas cases as well as the U.S. Supreme Court case Jones v. Wolf.
The defense also cites alleged incorrect assertions by Windwood in its case, and denies that the denomination nor the presbytery has any interest in taking its property.
“By filing a declaratory judgment when there is no present dispute about who owns its property, Windwood has put the cart before the horse,” the defense argued. “The true Windwood Presbyterian Church, the church that is a member of the PCUSA, will always own the property in question and which group constitutes the true church is a decision left to the Presbytery of New Covenant.”
Windwood Presbyterian Church, which was founded in 1962 and moved to its current campus in 2002, has asked that its appeal be heard in the First or 14th Court of Appeals in Houston.