PCUSA court affirms voluntary nature of paying per capita bills By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, July 15, 2003 Whether because of dissent or inability to pay, sessions have the right to withhold payment of per-capita apportionments to support presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the denomination's highest court has ruled. Decision of the Permanent Judical Commission of the General Assembly Merit brief of appellants-complainants The Reverend John C. Minihan and J. Randall Richards Brief of Presbytery of Scioto Valley Excerpts from briefs "[W]e hereby reaffirm this Commission's holding that 'a church may neither be compelled to pay nor punished for failure to pay any amounts pursuant to such [per capita] plan,'" the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission said in affirming a 1991 ruling by the same body. And while the commission did affirm the voluntary nature of per capita, it added that "there is a high moral obligation based on the grace and call of God to participate fully in the covenant community," the court said. The unanimous decision, rendered by 12 of the court's 16 members after an appellate hearing in Louisville last week, affirms a historic Presbyterian and Biblical principle: that "the Lord loves a cheerful giver" and that church leaders cannot be compelled to support higher governing bodies. The commission overturned a previous ruling by a synod court that said the Presbytery of Scioto Valley in Ohio had acted appropriately in adopting a policy resolution to compel per-capita payments. The synod court's ruling was appealed by the Rev. John C. Minihan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Newark, Ohio, and J. Randall Richards, a lawyer who is an elder at Liberty Presbyterian Church in Delaware, Ohio. The Scioto Valley policy said no congregation was exempt from payment unless it was specifically excused by the presbytery. Per-capita contributions pay for administrative and some program costs of the presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly. The ruling was narrowly focused on the question of whether per-capita payment is voluntary or compulsory. It did not address a corresponding issue – whether a presbytery may disapprove a loan for a congregation that does not remit its per capita. Furthermore, the court's ruling affirmed a principle that had been disputed by General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick. In 2002, Kirkpatrick contended that church elders and ministers did not have the right to advocate withholding per capita to express their disagreement with denominational policies. He termed such advocacy as a violation of one's ordination vows – an offense that can result in expulsion from the PCUSA. The appellants' brief raised the encumbrance-rule issue by noting that the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, in 2001, approved an amendment to its financial policy that said: "Any congregation requesting approval of an encumbrance shall be current in their per capital apportion and contributing to the mission budget of the presbytery." While previous Permanent Judicial Commissions have upheld the voluntary nature of per-capita payment, the Scioto Valley case is the first top-court ruling since a 1992 amendment to the Book of Order. That amendment, G-9.0404d, says, "The presbyteries shall be responsible for raising their own per capita funds, and for raising and timely transmission of per capita funds to their respective synods and to the General Assembly. The presbyteries may direct per capita apportionments to the sessions of the churches within their bounds." Its purpose was to clarify within the constitution the responsibilities of presbyteries. Lawyers for the Presbytery of Scioto Valley argued that G-9.0404d entitled the presbytery to require local congregations to remit their per-capita. The appellants argued otherwise.

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