Twenty Presbyteries Consider Overtures to GA to Protest
COGA Recommendation to Close Montreat Facility

by Jane Hines

On February 7, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) met in Louisville and adopted a recommendation to the 2006 General Assembly that is almost identical to their September action to close the Historical Foundation facility at Montreat.

Four presbyteries – Middle Tennessee, Western North Carolina, South Alabama and Salem – have met and adopted overtures protesting the COGA action in September. Sixteen other presbyteries will be considering similar actions between now and March 18.

The COGA recommendations ask the General Assembly to (1) Celebrate the long and faithful stewardship of the archives and historical collections of the Presbyterian Church at the Presbyterian Historical Foundation (PHS) facility in Montreat, North Carolina. (2) Acknowledge the sadness on closing the Montreat facility felt by Presbyterians who live in the Southeast and have a strong attachment to the presence of the PHS in Montreat. (3) Celebrate the future use of the Montreat facility as part of the ministry of the Montreat Conference Center while maintaining an exhibit hall for historical artifacts. (4) Celebrate the establishment of the Program for the Study of Presbyterian and Reformed History and Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary which will include educational opportunities at Columbia and Montreat. (5) Acknowledge the legal and Book of Order responsibilities the Presbyterian Church (USA) has for the denominational records of the PC(USA) and its antecedent denominations, including the United Presbyterian Church of North America, the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and the Presbyterian Church in the United States. (6) Encourage every congregation, presbytery, and synod to make careful and adequate provisions for the long-term preservation of their historic papers and records.

The recommendations from COGA include the following paragraphs as part of their rationale:

“Representatives from CTS (Columbia Theological Seminary) and PHS (Presbyterian Historical Society) have been meeting to determine what records and materials will go to the seminary’s campus in Decatur,Georgia and what will go to the PHS office in Philadelphia. The process will involve taking into consideration both the ecclesiastical, custodial obligations PHS has from the church’s Book of Order, and ownership issues surrounding the remaining materials that include library volumes, personal papers, and historical artifacts.”

“The Book of Order offers some guidance in this process. In part, G-9.0406 states, ‘All minutes and other official records of existing and dissolved sessions, minutes and other official records of existing and dissolved presbyteries and synods that are no longer required for frequent reference, are to be deposited for preserving and servicing with the Department of History (Presbyterian Historical Society) or in a temperature and humidity controlled environment of a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”

The four presbytery overtures that have passed, as we go to press on February 10, offer different approaches to an alternative to closure of the Montreat facility. The Middle Tennessee overture, adopted in a called meeting on January 19, asks the 217th (2006) General Assembly to direct the PHS to retain its office in Montreat, NC, at the Historical Foundation and to find ways to fund same.

The Western North Carolina and South Alabama overtures are alike and go into more detail. The final WHEREAS clause and the RESOLUTION clause in those overtures state: “The Historical Foundation at Montreat has legally existed as a North Carolina non-profit corporation under the name the Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, Incorporated, beginning in 1927 and still existing until the present day, with the legal ownership of most or all of its assets still being lodged in the still existing North Carolina corporation;” THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED that the 2006 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) directs: A. That the Historical Foundation and its Board of Directors be constituted as a fully independent selfperpetuating body….”

Salem Presbytery in North Carolina adopted an overture on February 4, which is different from Western North Carolina and South Alabama in that it states, in part: “WHEREAS it should be known that if the Montreat Historical Foundation ever ceases to be used for its current purposes, a difficult legal situation could result because the land and the buildings of the Montreat Historical Foundation have separate origination issues including reversionary clauses and the ownership of such will be unclear since it appears that the General Assembly has never acted to transfer the property from The Historical Foundation of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches, Inc. to any other legal entity; and WHEREAS inadequate time, limited information, lack of creative alternatives, restricted involvement by the greater church and the Friends of the Historical Foundation at Montreat when other options do exist but have yet to be explored; and WHEREAS the Minutes of the General Assembly of 2004, Part I of the Journal under the report of the Historical Society and Item 03- 24 states that the appointed task force to study the situation of the Historical Foundation will report to the General Assembly in 2006, and that this task force was never allowed to complete its work including making a final report with recommendations and was dismissed before reporting to the 2006 General Assembly by the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly; THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT SALEM PRESBYTERY REQUESTS THE 217th GENERAL ASSEMBLY (2006) OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) TO DIRECT: (1) that the closure plans and the dispersion of the collections and assets of the Historical Foundation at Montreat cease immediately, that any and all assets including endowments of the Historical Foundation at Montreat which may have been removed since 1983 be returned; and (2) that new ways be found to fund this valuable institution and retain its ministry to the family of Presbyterian and Reformed churches that is separate from the per capita income of the General Assembly……”

The battle lines are drawn. In the coming months before the General Assembly meets in Birmingham, there will be more reports of this continuing drama, with legal and constitutional matters at the forefront and the emotions of the third of the denomination living in the Southeast not too far in the background.