Stated Clerk decries growing movement to redirect funds By Parker T. Williamson The Presbyterian Layman Sept/Oct, 1997 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a quickly called news conference with the Presbyterian News Service, General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick questioned the loyalty of local church sessions that are protesting the actions of national and regional church leaders by curtailing their per capita contributions to higher governing bodies. Kirkpatrick’s office followed up the news conference with an “info” piece on PresbyNet, the denomination’s computerized communication system. Ironically, the Stated Clerk’s discussion appears to be fueling rather than diminishing local church discussions of the pocketbook protest option. Typical of the per capita actions that worry the stated clerk is a resolution from the session of First Presbyterian Church in Nappanee, Ind. In a letter to Clifton Kirkpatrick, the session states: “The session … is notifying you that we have taken formal action to withhold our per capita apportionment … This particular church has for 98 years dutifully supported the denomination. There have been many actions in recent years over which we have anguished and/or disagreed … yet we have chosen to patiently work through the accepted processes of the church … The actions of this General Assembly (209) were in blatant disregard of the desire of the church as a whole. We are disappointed in the manipulative way that the planners of the General Assembly (particularly John Buchanan) orchestrated (or at least encouraged) important events such as the worship of the Assembly and certain committees to become platforms for the Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns or their sympathizers … We will not send money to be used by the denomination to support efforts we believe are wrong, including continued expenses related to the proposed constitutional amendment to overturn the ordination standards just approved by a majority of the presbyteries …” Per capita history The per capita apportionment (the General Assembly portion is now $4.77 for each member on the active roll of each congregation) is not a tax. It is a voluntary contribution made by local church sessions to help defray the costs of the denomination’s administrative structure. The system was intended to be an equitable way to fund the cost of attending annual meetings of the General Assembly. The total costs of this annual event, including travel costs of all commissioners, was calculated and then divided by the total number of active church members. This method resulted in an even distribution of General Assembly meeting costs. Since then, as the General Assembly bureaucracy has grown, along with the subsequent development of synod and presbytery bureaucracies, the per capita apportionment has skyrocketed. Adding the costs of participating in the World Council of Churches and National Council of Churches further exacerbated the acceleration. (The PCUSA gives more money to the World Council of Churches than any other U.S. denomination although others, e.g., the United Methodist Church, have many more members.) Many Presbyterians are not aware that annual per capita payments are being paid by their sessions, since the gift is often simply included in the contribution that their congregation forwards to presbytery treasurers. This lack of knowledge, in addition to the widely held assumption that per capita is an obligatory tax, have made the per capita budget appear bullet proof. So while congregations have increasingly placed restrictions on the use of their mission offerings (more than 73 percent of mission budget income from congregations is donor restricted), the per capita budget has been relatively immune from pocket-book protests. A seismic shift Then came 1993, and a conference called “Re-Imagining God ...” that included a host of leaders from the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Suddenly the uncollected per capita funds more than tripled, jumping from $56,100 in 1992 to $182,353 in 1993. But because many churches had already paid their per capita offerings before the Re-Imagining event occurred, the full brunt of the protest did not come until 1994 – when uncollectibles jumped to $325,939. That is the trend that has worried Clifton Kirkpatrick, for as local church sessions learn that the cost of the Syracuse Assembly, and the salaries of those who are promoting its product, are coming out of the per capita budget, uncollected per capita could grow by further leaps and bounds. “Moral obligation” Kirkpatrick’s public statement on the per capita issue was carefully crafted. Calling the payment of per capita contributions a “moral obligation,” he omitted mentioning the fact that the Book of Order accords local church sessions complete authority to determine the disposition of all congregational gifts. Also not mentioned was the ruling of the 1992 Permanent Judicial Commission that said higher governing bodies cannot abridge the right of local church sessions to withhold or redirect their funds, and that they cannot punish those sessions that choose to do so. Kirkpatrick has been focusing on presbyteries, saying that they are obliged to pay the per capita apportionment for all active members in their region, even if some sessions exercise their constitutional right not to make a contribution. “There is no way to read our Book of Order and see per capita as optional,” Kirkpatrick told the Presbyterian New Service. “Chapter 9[.0404d] is very clear that the presbyteries shall pay per capita to the synod and the General Assembly.” That was the opinion that former Stated Clerk James Andrews announced in the wake of Re-Imagining Conference protests, but it appeared to have little impact on many presbyteries who informed the Office of the General Assembly that they would forward to Louisville only those funds that they were able to collect from their congregations and that they would not burden their own budgets by paying on behalf of sessions that chose to withhold. Whether presbyteries will absorb session per capita protests in 1997-98 remains to be seen. Many presbyteries have tight budgets this year, and their councils may be loath to cut popular presbytery programs and staff salaries in order to make up for session non-payments. Further, they run the risk of alienating sessions if by presbytery action they nullify the effect of deeply held statements of conscience.

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