GA06127

Assembly votes to approve recommendation to close PHS at Montreat

by Janet Hilley

BIRMINGHAM, June 21 — After impassioned debate, the Assembly voted Wednesday to approve the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) recommendation to close the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) at Montreat. Joan Gray, General Assembly moderator, paused for prayer following the vote.

In making the recommendation to approve the COGA report, Procedures Committee moderator Vince Thomas, elder from Twin Cities Presbytery, said of the committee, "We did not make this decision in haste and we did not make it without understanding both sides of the issue."

The Rev. Eric Skidmore of Trinity Presbytery offered a substitute motion, seeking a way to keep the Montreat site open. In offering his motion he said, "I believe the closure of the Historical Foundation at Montreat is an irreversible decision, and I pray we can keep it open for the sake of the whole church."

Speaking against the substitute motion, the Rev. Donald Wagner of Chicago Presbytery noted that the Procedures committee spent 10 hours on the Montreat issue and came to the conclusion that it simply is not financially viable.

"It is a question of stewardship," he said.

Former GA moderator Marj Carpenter, in supporting the substitute motion, recalled a meeting — held around the time of the reunion of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) — with Bill Thompson (stated clerk of the UPCUSA), Jim Magruder (PCUS national staff), and Jim Andrews (stated clerk, PCUS). Andrews said the PCUS health-care plan could not be saved, "but we promise we won't take your historical foundation," recalled Carpenter.

Serving as a resource person to the Procedures committee, COGA Moderator Steve Grace voiced concerns that the motion failed to provide adequate resources to preserve the valuable records at Montreat. He went on to say that the site at Montreat currently costs $500,000 per year, paid for by per capita funds. With a reduction of income from per capita, two PHS sites are no longer sustainable.

After calling the question, the substitute motion was defeated and the main motion — the COGA recommendation to close the Montreat site — was approved by a vote of 348 in favor and 147 opposed. Records from the Montreat office will be relocated to either Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, or to the PHS site in Philadelphia, with some artifacts remaining at Montreat.

Following the vote and prayer by the GA moderator, Thomas requested that Gray and the stated clerk send a pastoral letter to the Friends of the Historical Foundation at Montreat.

The procedures committee will give its final report on the per capita budget at the morning plenary on Thursday.