Hollywood congregation to vote on ending calls of two ministers
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, December 7, 2005
Seven months ago, Dr. Alan Meenan and Dr. David Manock were banished from their ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood.
On Sunday, the congregation will vote on two proposals: 1) whether to dissolve the pastoral relationship with the two ministers and 2) what kind of severance package the church should provide.
The congregational meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m., shortly after the last of the four services Sunday morning.
Whatever happens, the storm that lashed one of the most prominent evangelical congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not expected to subside quickly. Strapped financially and bitterly divided, the Hollywood church remains in a precarious predicament.
Alan MeenanOn May 4, 2005, Meenan, the senior minister of the 2,700-member congregation, and Manock, his top associate minister, were ordered to go on paid administrative leave after the Presbytery of the Pacific reviewed complaints against them and appointed an administrative commission to assume original jurisdiction.
The meeting, which began on May 3, had already adjourned when the newly appointed commission members presented a letter to the two ministers after midnight ordering them to clear out their offices within 12 hours and not to have further contact with the congregation’s members or staff. That letter had been written before the presbytery voted to name the commission. At that same meeting, the presbytery rejected a motion that would have required the two ministers to step aside.
David ManockThere was a brief reprieve after the supporters of Meenan and Manock gathered sufficient signatures on a petition to reinstate the two pastors and they made appearances at services on June 26. But presbytery officials ruled the petition invalid and the ministers’ return was limited to that one Sunday.
Until recently, they also were ordered not to contact any of the members or staff at the church. However, the administrative commission informed the clerk of session in November that the gag order had been lifted.
For the record, the session, under the urging of the administrative commission, is the body that has asked the congregation to vote for the dissolution of the pastors’ calls. But since the administrative commission was placed in control of the church’s operations, six elders, including two session clerks, have resigned because of their opposition to the commission’s actions.
Most of those who resigned argued that the commission had failed to seek reconciliation between the pastors and those who had objected to their ministry.
Initially, about 30 to 40 members of the congregation made complaints to the presbytery. But that number increased as others expressed dissatisfaction with their ministry styles and the financial problems.
When Hollywood’s troubles were aired at the presbytery meeting in May, the financial shortfall during 2004 reportedly was $700,000. A later analysis of the situation, which was included in a recent bulletin insert, says the 2004 deficit was actually $1,030,353. Through October of this year, the shortage was $804,965.
The congregation’s decision on Sunday will go to the presbytery, which meets on Jan. 21, 2006.