A PC(USA) press release is reporting that the judge in the case of Torrance First Presbyterian Church vs Presbytery of Hanmi has granted summary judgment to the presbytery giving it title to the church property.  (I previously wrote on this and other SoCal cases on Aug. 18) Checking the web site for the Los Angeles Superior Court (click “Case Summary on the left and then you can go to the bottom of the page and type in the case number BC332180) it indicates that a “Motion Hearing” was completed on Monday, Nov. 27, but the status of the case is still pending with a final status conference on 4/27/07 and trial set for 4/30/07.  It could be the web site has not been updated or they are waiting for the full decision to be issued in a couple of weeks or the summary judgment is preliminary and it can be challenged.  The related case (YC052718) does not show any activity since September.

OK, those are the facts as the PC(USA) and the court web site are reporting them.  I am looking for an alternate source to see if there is more to it.  However, I still stand by my comments from the previous post:  The Torrance case, and the others in SoCal, are very much the result of divided congregations that have internal disputes and are not really about the present atmosphere of (mostly) unified congregations wanting to leave the denomination over decisions by the GA.  What the present cases do show is the strategy and tactics that the PC(USA) higher governing bodies will probably be taking against churches that try to leave with their property.

But at what cost?  The monetary cost of this and the three other cases has been significant and the Synod of Southern California and Hawai’i, already financially challenged, is needing to find creative ways to pay for this.  (More on that later.  I have a commentary on Synods in process that might see the light of day in the next week.)  And I am personally disturbed by the tone of the PC(USA) press release.  It strikes me as having a very triumphalist attitude making reference to the “break-away faction” and the “loyalist Presbyterian Church (USA) faction.” 

I will keep watching this story.  The press release says the full decision will be issued by the judge in a few weeks.