Presbyterian church sues to avoid property seizure

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A local church that voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA) has filed a lawsuit seeking to bar any threat of seizure of its property by the local presbytery as it joins a more conservative denomination.

The Memorial Park Presbyterian Church, the largest church in the Pittsburgh Presbytery, sought to confirm its title to 7.5 acres of land and ownership of buildings in McCandless Township in the lawsuit filed Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

The church filed suit after its governing body voted unanimously Wednesday to disaffiliate from the presbytery following nearly a year of negotiations.

Memorial Park’s congregation, which was established 64 years ago and has 1,675 members, will vote on whether to disaffiliate during regular weekend services Jan. 19-20.

In June, members of the church voted to seek dismissal from the national church. Memorial Park then offered $360,000 to the Pittsburgh Presbytery to seal the break.

Memorial Park’s senior pastor, Rev. Dean Weaver, said the presbytery initially offered to settle for $1.7 million but later lowered its request to $1.2 million. Memorial Park made what it said was a final offer of $500,000 in September.

“We don’t intend in any way, shape or form to do any harm to the presbytery,” Weaver told The Associated Press. “Our hope had been that it would turn out differently. We didn’t feel that we had any other choice.”

He said the offer of $500,000 was as much as the church could absorb without adversely affecting its activities. Based on similar settlements with other churches, “we think our offer was extremely generous,” he said.

The Rev. Doug Portz, acting pastor to the presbytery, said leaders “have made every effort to keep such matters out of the civil courts.”