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Court decides property belongs to majority that's leaving presbytery
By Colette M. Jenkins Beacon Journal religion writer
Published on Sunday, Oct 28, 2007
A magistrate in Summit County Common Pleas Court has ruled that the property at Hudson Presbyterian Church belongs to the faction of the congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Magistrate John Shoemaker on Friday rejected the argument of the Eastminster Presbytery that all property of the church is held in trust for the denomination as outlined in the PCUSA constitution.
The Eastminster Presbytery, the regional governing body of the denomination, is made up of 55 churches in Summit, Portage, Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.
In the legal dispute, the local presbytery represented the minority group that wanted to remain part of the denomination based in Louisville, Ky. The Rev. Dan Schomer, who heads the presbytery, said in a news release that the presbytery is committed to ''the redevelopment of the congregation it first organized in 1982.''
He also said that the presbytery's attorney is filing objections to the magistrate's ruling because it contradicts the denomination's constitution.
''My concern is about far more than church property. In this ruling, it appears that the civil court has effectively rewritten the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and interfered in the internal matters of the church,'' Schomer said. ''I am also deeply saddened for those church members who wished to continue in affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), many of whom helped to found the church as a witness to Jesus Christ in Hudson.''
The Rev. D. Wayne Bogue, who could not be reached for comment, said recently that the majority of the congregation that voted to leave the denomination is continuing its mission and ministry as an independent congregation.
Despite waiting to be officially released from the denomination, the congregation voted two weeks ago to affiliate with the New Wineskins Association of Churches.
The New Wineskins is an organization within the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a conservative denomination that has voted to accept congregations that are leaving the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.
The congregations at Hudson and Stow Presbyterian churches are among about 30 Presbyterian congregations in the United States that have voted to break away from the denomination since its national assembly in 2006, according to The Layman, a conservative Presbyterian publication that tracks churches seeking to disaffiliate with the PCUSA.
The denomination is the country's ninth-largest Christian group with nearly 11,000 congregations. But its membership has shrunk from about 3 million in 1986 to 2.27 million at the end of 2006. Last year, the denomination eliminated 75 jobs at its headquarters amid budget cuts.
The pastors of the two local congregations say they voted to leave the denomination because of its failure to uphold the lordship of Jesus Christ and the infallibility of Scripture. Other points of discord are a decline in world missions and the acceptance of a policy paper on sex-inclusive language for the Holy Trinity.
The Hudson congregation voted 166-61 on Nov. 5, 2006, to break away from the denomination. Before the vote, the local church obtained a temporary restraining order from Summit Common Pleas Court to prohibit the presbytery from interfering with the vote.
Last November, Eastminster Presbytery named the minority wishing to continue as a PCUSA congregation as the true Hudson Presbyterian Church.
Since then, the presbytery has organized regular worship and fellowship events for the minority group in different locations.
The dispute between the presbytery and the local congregation is likely to set a legal precedent in Ohio because it is the first of its kind in the state since the rift over the interpretation of Scripture began in the PCUSA.
Colette Jenkins can be reached at 330-996-3731 or cjenkins@thebeaconjournal.com.
A magistrate in Summit County Common Pleas Court has ruled that the property at Hudson Presbyterian Church belongs to the faction of the congregation that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
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