UPDATE:Presbytery approves dismissal and property settlement by a vote of 132-82
UPDATE 2x: Letter from Pastor to Congregation: Vote: 132-82-5
Our Clerk of Session, Jim Belliveau, attended the meeting and handed them a check for $200,000 to seal the deal. Jim said that among the 82 “no votes” there was a good deal of anger and hostility. There was talk of “taking over the property” and some found it hard to believe that there was not a ʺtrue churchʺ to be found. A number of people vocalized that they wished the Presbytery had fought “all the way” in court for the property.
Ed: Newspaper got the count wrong (see comments)
Note: Congregation voted: 664-25 to disaffiliate on Jan 19 & 20, 2008. and voted 951-93-4 to request dismissal on June 3, 2007.
Note: The congregation meeting on Sunday, April 13, 2008 will vote on whether to accept this settlement.
Pittsburgh Trib Review: "Pittsburgh Presbytery is expected to approve a $575,000 settlement with Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless, PA at a meeting on Friday, April 18, according to the Rev. Doug Portz, acting pastor to the presbytery.
The settlement allows Memorial Park to keep its more than seven acres of property, worth roughly $7 million. The settlement also enables Memorial Park to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Memorial Park had filed a complaint in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Jan. 4 seeking a declaration that the church solely owns its property and that the Pittsburgh Presbytery and its parent, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), had no claim to it."
PDF: Feb 6, 2008 Pastoral Letter on Memorial Park (Acting Head of Staff)
PDF: April 1, 2008 AC Letter on Memorial Park
PDF: Full Agreement
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1 comment:
I attended the meeting as an elder commissioner. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette simply mis-reported the count, which was not loudly announced. The correct number was 132-82-5, as Dean Weaver mentions in his letter to the Memorial Park congregation.
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