 Plan to close Historical Foundation, distribute its holdings criticized By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Saturday, June 17, 2006
Earlier in the day, in a brief comment during an overview presentation on the Office of the General Assembly, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said that the "actions being proposed by the Historical Society are vital to the future of the center" and will "save $1 million per year." "This has been done with the greatest possible sensitivity," he said, "but with an eye toward serving the center for the future." In the afternoon open hearing before the Committee on General Assembly Procedures, which scheduled a vote on several overtures seeking to derail that proposal later during the General Assembly, speakers urged the committee to reject the proposal. Rev. Virginia Rainey of the Presbytery of Huntington said the proposal "would give to a body not affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA) records that pertain to all Presbyterians." She was speaking about an overture from the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee that seeks to have The Friends of the Historical Foundation at Montreat, Inc., "undertake the support of the Historical Foundation as a self-standing independent institution, relieving the General Assembly of responsibility for its restoration and continuing support." "Persons in the southeastern United States are not the only ones requiring access to records from that center," Rainey said, describing how she was able to obtain a lot of material for a church and a minister that she was researching. "It was never the intent of the donors of these records that they would pass out of the control of the Presbyterian Church," she said, adding that the overtures "undermine the Book of Order mandate to keep and preserve the records of the denomination." Approving the overtures, Rainey said, would shift control of the records to "an organization that has absolutely no obligation to the denomination." Rev. Reg Parsons, stated clerk of the Synod of the South Atlantic, said that, "Montreat is a very fine place, where I sent the records of ministries in Mississippi for 31 years." "There comes a time in the life of many congregations, though, when we become so small that it's time to celebrate the ministries of the church and then close the church," he said. "Nobody likes to close a church, and it's the same way with the Historical Center in Montreat." Rev. Tracey Stewart of North Carolina urged the committee to "keep this great institution open. For many of us, a part of being Presbyterian has been formed at Montreat." "There is a great cost that is not being considered," she said. "Some of the collection will be returned to he donors' families because it was given in trust to the center. Help keep our history accessible and living." Rev. Joel Aldiss, a minister/member from the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, said he "deeply loves Montreat" and is "against the proposal to create a separate board of directors for the Historical Foundation." "I do not believe trying to maintain that institution in the current environment is the best use of resources," he said. It is the "obligation of a church to maintain its records, documents, books, etc., and it is the function of the church to maintain those records," Aldiss said. The denomination "needs to control its own records, but there is not enough money to do it" in terms of funding the ongoing programs. David Perry, an elder from First Presbyterian Church in Houston, said "splitting up the center would be a travesty. Twenty-one presbyteries have already said, 'Don't do it.' Please keep Montreat a viable repository for our wonderful Presbyterian history." |
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