California church seeks to change PCUSA’s ‘form of blackmail’ in property trust clause
By Craig Kibler, The Layman Online, August 24, 2005
A congregation in California is seeking to change what it calls “a form of blackmail” in the property trust clause of the Presbyterian Church (USA) through a resolution to amend the Book of Order.
The resolution by Trinity United Presbyterian Church targets Chapter VIII of the Book of Order. In its rationale, it states that, “if a congregation has any irreconcilable theological differences with the actions of the leadership of PCUSA, or to any future amendments to the Book of Order, that congregation has only two options: It can stay in PCUSA in spite of those irreconcilable differences, or it can separate from PCUSA and forfeit all of its assets to PCUSA. Neither option is morally right or theologically sound. The present forfeiture provisions of Chapter VIII are simply a form of blackmail: The mandate that a congregation must stay as part of PCUSA no matter how Biblically and theologically that congregation’s beliefs differ from the actions of the General Assembly or towards any future amendments to the Book of Order, or PCUSA will take all its assets: its sanctuary, buildings, real property, and any other assets it may own, including savings and checking accounts.”
The resolution concludes: “No church should have to forfeit its assets to uphold its Biblical beliefs. Amending Chapter VIII will eliminate these unjust forfeiture clauses in the Book of Order and protect the assets of each congregation: The body of Christ that paid for those assets.”
A spokesman for the 625-member congregation in Modesto said the session approved the resolution last year in anticipation of the 217th General Assembly, which will meet in Birmingham, Ala., on June 15-22, 2006. The spokesman said the session hopes Stockton Presbytery will approve the resolution as an overture.
The PCUSA’s constitutional provision says local congregations hold their property in trust for the denomination, and denominational officials say those provisions give regional bodies – the presbyteries and synods – the right to evict defectors and claim the property.
But California corporate law, according to a ruling in a Methodist case last year by the 5th Circuit of the California Court of Appeals, allows a local church to revoke the denominationally imposed trusts and retain its property.
On August 16, a Superior Court judge in Orange County, Calif., ruled that a congregation that defected from the Episcopal Church (USA) retains its property. St. James Church, which has property valued at several million dollars, defected from the Episcopal Church in a dispute over the denomination’s selection of a bishop after he had left his wife and children to live with his homosexual partner. The Episcopal Church claimed that the congregation forfeited any right to the buildings and other property, including hymnals.
In the Presbyterian Church (USA), two Korean congregations whose majorities voted to leave the denomination – Serone Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles and First Presbyterian Church in Torrance – are currently involved in civil property disputes.
In the Serone case, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Yaffe has tentatively ruled that the PCUSA is the owner of the property, but he has not ordered the eviction of the majority that voted to leave the denomination. Serone has appealed Yaffe’s ruling to the California Court of Appeals.
In the Torrance case, a Superior Court judge has granted access to the property by the minority, but he has not ruled on property ownership.
Duane Martin, the elder who introduced the resolution at Trinity United Presbyterian Church, said in a letter to The Layman Online that, “So far all we have done is left our future property rights very much in jeopardy, hoping without any guarantee that secular courts will interpret the present language in the Book of Order to protect the rights of the ones who paid for those assets.”
“If Chapter VIII is amended,” Martin wrote, “then the power of the General Assembly to force apostasy on local churches by using the threat of confiscating all their assets will be removed.”
The full text of the resolution is as follows:
Resolution to amend Chapter VIII of the Book of Order
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0201 be amended to read: “All property held by or for a particular church, no matter how title is held or by whom, is the sole property of that church, except that the amount of any financial assistance provided by PCUSA to that church to purchase, improve or repair that property, is a lien on that property for the benefit of PCUSA.”
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0300 and 8.0301 be amended by deleting all the provisions contained therein.
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0401 be amended to read: “Whenever a particular church is formally dissolved by the presbytery, or has become extinct by reason of the dispersal of its members, the abandonment of its work, or other cause and no longer exists as a church body, such property as it may have shall be held, used, and applied for such uses, purposes, and trusts as the presbytery may direct, limit, and appoint, or such property may be sold or disposed of as the presbytery may direct, in conformity with the Constitution of the PCUSA.
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0501 be amended to read: “So long as a particular church is a member of PCUSA, it shall not sell, mortgage, or otherwise encumber any of its real property and it shall not acquire real property subject to an encumbrance or condition without the written permission of the presbytery transmitted through the session of the particular church.”
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0502 be amended to read: “So long as a particular church is a member of PCUSA, it shall not lease its real property used for purposes of worship, or lease for more than five years any of its other real property, without the written permission of the presbytery transmitted through the session of the particular church.”
“BE IT RESOLVED THAT G-8.0601 be amended to read: “The relationship to the PCUSA of a particular church can be severed by either constitutional action on the party of the presbytery (G-11.0103i), or by the majority vote of that particular church. If there is a schism within the membership of a particular church and the presbytery is unable to effect a reconciliation or a division into separate churches within PCUSA, the majority vote within that particular church shall determine what shall be done with that church’s property notwithstanding the provisions of G-11.0103i or any other provision in the Book of Order.
“RATIONALE: As Chapter VIII of the Book of Order now reads, if a congregation has any irreconcilable theological differences with the actions of the leadership of PCUSA, or to any future amendments to the Book of Order, that congregation has only two options: It can stay in PCUSA in spite of those irreconcilable differences, or it can separate from PCUSA and forfeit all of its assets to PCUSA. Neither option is morally right or theologically sound. The present forfeiture provisions of Chapter VIII are simply a form of blackmail: The mandate that a congregation must stay as part of PCUSA no matter how Biblically and theologically that congregation’s beliefs differ from the actions of the General Assembly or towards any future amendments to the Book of Order, or PCUSA will take all its assets: its sanctuary, buildings, real property, and any other assets it may own, including savings and checking accounts.
“There is no Biblical or moral basis why a congregation’s property should be controlled by or forfeited to the PCUSA upon severance by that congregation from PCUSA, except only to the extent PCUSA has expended funds in behalf of such church to acquire, improve or repair such property. Then PCUSA should have the limited right to reimbursement for those funds.
“It is one thing for a church to subject itself and its assets to the rules of PCUSA when those rules conform to the Biblical beliefs of that church. It is another thing if those rules are changed contrary to the Biblical beliefs of that particular church, or those in charge of enforcing the rules do so contrary to what the rules state, or they refuse to enforce the rules as stated in the Book of Order.
“No church should have to forfeit its assets to uphold its Biblical beliefs. Amending Chapter VIII will eliminate these unjust forfeiture clauses in the Book of Order and protect the assets of each congregation: The body of Christ that paid for those assets.”