Presbyteries come up $430,000 short in '05 per-capita payments The Layman Online Monday , October 16, 2006 Highest amounts unpaid 1. Beaver-Butler $ 44,574 2. San Diego $ 40,166 3. Central Florida $ 38,316 4. Peace River $ 31,777 5. Hanmi $ 29,456 6. Foothills $ 28,117 7. East Tennessee $ 21,058 8. Shenango $ 19,144 9. Philadelphia $ 18,071 10. Western New York $ 17,021 Highest percentages unpaid 1. Dakota 100% 2. San Juan 100% 3. Hanmi 98.9% 4. Atlantic Korean 62.4% 5. Beaver-Butler 50% 6. San Diego 38.8% 7. Mississippi 33.7% 8. San Joaquin 27.1% 9. Lackawanna 25.4% 10. Peace River 25.3% For one reason or another, presbyteries are sending less money to Louisville, Ky., to pay the operating expenses of the Presbyterian Church (USA). According to the Presbyterian News Service, Christopher Nicholas, the financial officer for the Office of the General Assembly, told the committee overseeing that office that uncollectible per-capita payments for 2005 will exceed $400,000 for the first time in 10 years. As of his report on Oct. 12, the amount in the arrears was $430,000 or 3.4 percent of the total $12.6 million presbyteries were asked to remit. The apportionment to the presbyteries is based on a fixed amount for each member of a Presbyterian congregation as established by the General Assembly. The per-capita rate in 2005 was $5.46. Somewhere between 25 and 35 of the 173 presbyteries are falling short because congregations are withholding payment because of opposition to actions of the General Assembly or denominational leadership. Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick said 10 presbyteries did not remit the full amount because congregations were withholding payment as a matter of protest. But he also said 25 presbyteries were short because they remit only what they receive from their churches. In fact, several of the 25 were also protesting the denomination's actions. In either case, 35 presbyteries have come up short because congregations intentionally decided not to pay some or all of the amount the denomination called for. The report to the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly included two "top-10" offenders: The 10 that owed the most money and the 10 that had the highest percentage lapse. An analysis of those two lists shows that the bulk of the shortfall came from presbyteries where there is strong opposition to many of the denomination's liberal policies, including the move by the 2006 General Assembly to allow the ordination of practicing homosexuals and adulterers. All of the presbyteries on the list of highest amounts withheld have voted overwhelmingly in support of the denomination's ordination requirement that prohibits ordaining people who violate the "fidelity/chastity" standard. The only exception on the list of presbyteries with the highest percentage of unpaid per capita is Lackawanna. It voted against the "fidelity/chastity" clause in 1997, but voted in 1998 and 2001 to affirm that requirement.

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