 After clerk's threat, per-capita receipts in 2002 are bolstered By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, May 19, 2004 The year 2002, which began with Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick threatening church officers who advocated withholding per-capita requests, wound up with one of the smallest per-capita shortfalls in a decade, according to a report to the 216th General Assembly. The shortfall was $188,061, less than half the $425,000 projected by budget-makers, according to the General Assembly Council and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly. The 216th General Assembly will consider the joint COGA-GAC report during its June 26-July 3 meeting in Richmond, Va. The commissioners will set per-capita request rates for 2005 and 2006. Why did collections improve? While the report showed an improvement in per-capita contributions, it did not explain how that occurred. But new rules require presbyteries to remit the full per-capita even if sessions don't remit their full share – as long as the presbyteries have money available. In many cases, presbyteries have dipped into their own mission funds to make up the difference. The COGA-GAC joint report did not refer to Kirkpatrick's threat, which he issued in a Jan. 3, 2002, letter to the stated clerks of the 173 presbyteries and 17 synods in the Presbyterian Church (USA). The letter dealt primarily with two issues: 1) the defiance of the denomination's constitutional "fidelity/chastity" standard by presbyteries and sessions and 2) discussions among evangelicals of "gracious separation" and/or withholding or redirecting per-capita requests. Clerk sympathetic with those defying law On the ordination issue, Kirkpatrick responded to acts of defiance with sympathy. "I am well aware that there is considerable debate about the wisdom of this provision in our Constitution in light of our historic Presbyterian polity and that an amendment has been approved by the 213th General Assembly and is currently before the presbyteries that could remove this provision," he said. "However, until such time when this or a similar amendment is approved, G-6.0106b is the 'law of the church' and should be upheld. No session or presbytery has the right to ordain anyone who is unwilling to live by the 'fidelity and chastity' standard, and I encourage you to faithfully uphold this provision in your governing body." Earlier, he had issued a statement noting that the PCUSA courts had not defined "fidelity" or "chastity." Clerk adamant in his threats While the clerk expressed sympathy with Presbyterians who were defying church law, he was adamant in his threats towards church officers "who are encouraging congregations to withdraw (or 'graciously separate') from the Presbyterian Church (USA) and/or who are advocating the withholding of duly authorized per-capita assessments from their governing bodies as a form of protest. Such actions are unconstitutional, and I urge that they stop. It is a violation of our ordination vows to promote schism or defiance of constitutionally sanctioned governing body directives." PCUSA doesn't levy 'assessments' With the word "assessments" – a synonym for "taxes" – Kirkpatrick was using a term Presbyterian courts have declared unconstitutional. In Westminster v. Presbytery of Detroit (1996), the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly said, "Neither the present Constitution nor prior case law dictate that the per-capita apportionment is a tax or compulsory contribution." The court declared unconstitutional a presbytery policy that described per capita as a "tax." There is no reference to "tax" or "assessment" in the other two major decisions by the General Assembly court – Central Presbyterian v. Presbytery of Long Island (1991) or Minihan v. the Presbytery of Scioto Valley (2003). Constitutionally, per-capita requests are described as "apportionments" in the Book of Order – except in three sections dealing with union presbyteries. In those references, both "apportionments" and "assessments" are used for an obvious reason. Union presbyteries are authorized as joint ventures between a PCUSA presbytery and a presbytery from another Reformed body. While the PCUSA uses "apportionments," other bodies might, indeed, have "assessments." Not all departures are schismatic On the issue of "schism" in his 2002 statement, Kirkpatrick didn't mention a long-standing principle in Presbyterian polity – a footnote to the Book of Order's G-6.0107, the section dealing with conscience:
Per-capita requests to congregations to support the work of higher governing bodies are not taxes, as Kirkpatrick suggested. The Book of Order, numerous General Assemblies and three decisions by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly have declared that:
How much Kirkpatrick's threat affected the collection rate is not known. But several presbyteries took aggressive action against Presbyterians who sought to exercise their constitutional right not to remit some or all of their per capita. Since Kirkpatrick's Jan. 3 letter, there have been at least three church court cases on the issue. In two cases, presbytery policies that sought to require congregations to pay their full per capita were ruled unconstitutional. One of the cases was adjudicated by the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the denomination's highest court. In Minihan v. the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, the General Assembly court affirmed previous decisions that per-capita payments are voluntary and withholding them is not unconstitutional or in violation of officers' ordination vows. Likewise, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of Mid-America ruled unconstitutional a Heartland Presbytery policy that would have denied services and loan guarantees to congregations that failed to remit their full per-capita and make and meet a presbytery mission pledge. That case is on appeal to the General Assembly court. In a case that is pending in the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic court, the Presbytery of Western North Carolina is seeking to invalidate the ministry of Parker T. Williamson as chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and editor in chief of its publications. The presbytery's move to invalidate Williamson's ministry came in response to the Presbyterian Lay Committee's "Declaration of Conscience," which urges Presbyterian individuals and sessions to prayerfully consider designating their gifts to ministries that are Biblically grounded and Christ-centered. Stated clerk's followup After the Minihan case, Kirkpatrick issued "Advisory Opinion #9," without any threats against officers whom he had previously deemed to be in violation of their ordination vows. But he did say, "No General Assembly or General Assembly Judicial Commission has declared that withholding per capita to further political/theological agendas is ever justified." In fact, though, the Book of Order and General Assemblies have been silent on that issue. They have not addressed any specific reason a session might withhold per capita. Rather, church law clearly states that payment of per capita is voluntary, whatever the reason. In its report to the General Assembly, COGA and the GAC expressed their "special thanks to presbyteries and congregations for their faithful financial support for the work of the church." 90,000 memberhip loss projected But the report had a downside: It projected membership losses of 45,000 each in 2003 and 2004, the two years that will be used to determine per-capita requests for 2005 and 2006. If those projections come to pass, the loss will be 1.84 percent of membership in 2003 and 1.87 percent of membership in 2004. The losses those two years would be the highest percentages since 1.88 percent of the denomination's members left in 1981. Kirkpatrick will disclose the 2003 membership figures during one of his first reports to the General Assembly. The membership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) as of Dec. 31, 2002, stood at 2.45 million, down from 4.2 million in 1967. |
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