Ohio church wins
first
round of legal dispute
with 'hierarchical' PCUSA
By John H.
Adams
The Layman
Online
Tuesday, October
10, 2006
About Hudson Presbyterian Church
Hudson
Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, is a growing congregation
with 502 members as of the end of 2005, according to the PCUSA's
statistics.
Membership has increased 46.7 percent since D. Wayne Bogue became
the pastor in 1997. Hudson is one of 1,314 congregations whose
sessions approved affiliation with the Confessing Church Movement
within the PCUSA.
In a statement published on its HPC Web site, the session says, "Our
desire is to keep HPC faithful to Christ and His Church. This is our
primary passion. And yet we find that many are straying from the
historic, biblical, Christian faith, and are accommodating the
timeless Gospel of Jesus Christ to the clamoring of culture. This
has led to some to declare that Jesus Christ is not the only way of
salvation, and that there are other ways one may attain salvation.
These persons also do not believe that the Scriptures are the
infallible written Word of God, our only authority for faith and
life. Instead, they follow the latest ideologies. They declare that
the ordering of human sexual relationships should be based on the
desires of a broken people and culture rather than the Scriptures."
|
In a first-round battle pitting Hudson Presbyterian Church v.
Eastminster Presbytery, an Ohio Court of Common Pleas magistrate issued
a sweeping prohibition against the presbytery's interference in the
congregation's consideration of a proposal to leave the Presbyterian
Church (USA).
After a two-hour hearing on Oct. 6, the magistrate upheld a temporary
restraining order previously signed by a trial judge. The magistrate
denied the presbytery's "hierarchical" claim that it had the
authority to intervene through an administrative commission and take
over the governance of the church.
The Hudson session has scheduled a congregational meeting on Nov. 5 for
a vote on the session's proposal to leave the PCUSA and join the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
According to court documents, the presbytery was considering a number
of steps to thwart the decision: an administrative commission to take
over the congregation; dissolving the call of Hudson's pastor, D. Wayne
Bogue; seeking to stir up opposition within the congregation to the
proposal; usurping the congregation's charter as a nonprofit corporation
under the laws of Ohio; and taking steps to cloud the congregation's
title to the property.
The temporary restraining order enjoins the presbytery from:
- "conducting or purporting to conduct any civil business
matters on behalf of Hudson Presbyterian Church."
- "interfering in any way with Hudson Presbyterian session's
right to conduct business matters" on behalf of the
congregation.
- "interfering in any way with the congregational meeting."
- "entering upon the lands and property" of the church "in
any manner which might be disruptive of Hudson Presbyterian Church's
operations."
- "establishing or attempting to establish an administrative
commission" to replace Hudson's duly elected session.
- "affirmatively contacting the members" of the
congregation "for the purposes of trying to establish an
organized opposition to the conduct of business" by the session
or "otherwise seeking to establish, foment, or create division
or schism or dissention" within the congregation prior to the
Nov. 5 vote.
- "taking any action which would change, or which would
attempt or purport to change, the control" of the congregation.
- "taking any action that would change the pastoral
relationship between" the congregation and its pastor, D. Wayne
Bogue.
- "interfering with any and all employment contracts or other
contracts or other outstanding obligations" of the
congregation.
- "filing any documents against the mortgage or title …
asserting or claiming title to any real property … or asserting
a trust interest in the property … or otherwise taking actions
which would have the effect of placing a cloud on the title" of
any of the church's real or personal property.
- "initiating any disciplinary action against the ministers
or ordained members" of the church.
(The Layman Online's copies of court documents, filed before minor
changes in the restraining order were approved by the magistrate,
include the Hudson
session's motion for a temporary restraining order, the
restraining
order as originally signed by the trial judge, and the
presbytery's
request for a temporary restraining order. The magistrate approved
the restraining order with the acknowledgement that the presbytery did
have ecclesiological rights but not to the extent of interfering with
the actions of the Hudson session.)
The Hudson session, concerned that Eastminster would attempt to take
over control of the congregation, filed a request for a temporary
restraining order on Sept. 28. That request was signed by Judge Mary
Spicer. The presbytery responded with a request for a temporary
restraining order that would have ended Spicer's order and allowed the
presbytery to proceed in taking over the congregation.
The motions presented at the hearing addressed emerging tactical and
legal issues common in the intense disputes over the denomination's
claim that a congregation has no right to leave the denomination with
its property. The arguments made by the presbytery paralleled the
denomination's legal strategy that was revealed in
"privileged and
confidential" documents that were leaked by an unknown source
to the Presbyterian Lay Committee. The presbytery's motion was scripted
closely to the hardball legal strategy outlined in those documents.
Forrest A. Norman III, a partner in the law firm of Gallagher Sharp and
a deacon at Hudson Presbyterian, argued the case for the session. Three
attorneys represented Eastminster Presbytery, including Terrence L.
Seeberger and T. Christopher O'Connell of Stark & Knoll in Akron.
The lawyers' motions included these contrasting views:
| Hudson |
Eastminster Presbytery |
| "HPC's bylaws designate 'session' as the governing body of
the Church for both ecclesiastical and secular matters." |
"The dispute focuses solely on an ecclesiastical matter
within a hierarchical church." |
| "HPC's articles of incorporation and bylaws permit it to
voluntarily affiliate with a denomination of its choosing."
|
"Hudson Presbyterian continues to take unauthorized
actions to the detriment of congregation members, Eastminster
Presbytery and PCUSA." |
| "It is apparent that Eastminster is anxious to stop HPC's
congregation from voting, and is taking steps to hinder HPC's
ability to function as a corporate entity in order to try to derail
the process of re-affiliation." |
The PCUSA "is a recognized Presbyterian denomination in
the United States. As a hierarchical church, PCUSA and its
representative bodies are regulated pursuant to the Constitution of
the PCUSA …" |
| "Eastminster Presbytery seeks to replace HPC's session
with an administrative commission of its choosing. The
administrative commission would presumably take, or attempt to take,
corporate actions into its own hands and control … which HPC is
expressly entitled to resist pursuant O.R.C. § 1702.12."
|
"Eastminster Presbytery is responsible for the mission and
government of all local congregations within northeast Ohio.
Accordingly, Eastminster has the authority ... to assume original
jurisdiction in any case in which it determines that a session
cannot exercise its authority … only Eastminster Presbytery has
the authority to sever the relationship between Hudson Presbyterian
and PCUSA." |
| The Hudson bylaws say that the "Session shall be empowered
to hold property in trust as allowed at law, reserving the right of
revocation in all instances. All property held in trust must be an
expressed trust." The bylaws give the congregation the final
authority in "matters relating to the buying, mortgaging or
selling of real property." |
"The Session of Hudson Presbyterian may attempt … to
transfer title of its property despite the fact that all property
held by Hudson Presbytery is held in trust for the use and benefit
of the PCUSA." |
| "Ohio Revised Code §1702 sets forth the authority of
non-profit corporations." A non-profit may "resist a
change or potential change in control of a corporation." "The
resolution notes that a change of control by Eastminster Presbytery
is not in the best interests of the entity to which the [Hudson
Presbyterian] Board of Trustees is obligated to protect." |
The Ohio court "lacks jurisdiction over this dispute. …
If a church is hierarchical, the court must decline jurisdiction.
Even if this Court has jurisdiction over this dispute, the evidence
before the Court clearly provides that all property held by local
congregations is held in trust for the use and benefit of the PCUSA."
|
In preparation for its congregational meeting, the Hudson leaders have
held several briefing sessions with members. They have also invited
presbytery officials to attend one of those sessions and to make
comments from the floor – an invitation that is not prohibited by
the restraining order.
While the dispute between Hudson and the presbytery is heated, Norman,
who is a new director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, expressed his
hope that "cooler heads will be able to prevail and that we will
effect a gracious separation." |