PCUSA’s highest court will hear final arguments in Williamson case
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, March 30, 2005
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission on Friday will hear final arguments in two appeals to a synod court ruling in September 2004 that overturned a Presbytery of Western North Carolina decision not to validate the Rev. Parker T. Williamson’s ministry as chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and editor in chief of its publications.
The synod court had ruled that the Presbytery failed to provide Williamson with “adequate due process and fundamental fairness,” and it ordered Presbytery and Williamson to develop a presbytery-wide plan of reconciliation. The Presbytery filed an appeal against the court’s reconciliation order, and requested that it be allowed to initiate a new validation inquiry before the appeal is decided.
Williamson filed a cross-appeal requesting that the General Assembly court correct five errors in constitutional interpretation in the synod court’s opinion.
Neither party is contesting the synod court’s judgment that the Presbytery failed to provide “adequate due process and fundamental fairness.”
In February 2005, the General Assembly court denied a motion by the Presbytery to dismiss Williamson’s appeal. The high court also ordered that the Presbytery defer any further review of Williamson’s validation until after its decision on the appeals. The appeal arguments will be heard in Baltimore on April 1 and the court’s decision is expected during the following week.