wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Divided Korean congregation works toward ceasefire in

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8948 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05535
Oct. 5, 2005

Common ground

Bitterly divided Korean congregation 
works toward ceasefire in turf battle

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Lawyers representing two factions of a bitterly divided,
2,700-member Korean congregation in Torrance, CA, are trying to negotiate an
agreement to share the church building while a civil court decides which
group is entitled to the property.

	"I am overjoyed that these conversations are finally happening," said
the Rev. Syngman Rhee, a former General Assembly moderator who is working
informally - as "pulpit supply" - with the loyalist faction of First
Presbyterian Church of Torrance. "Some kind of peace is needed."

	Rhee was appointed by the group that now governs the congregation, an
administrative commission formed by Hanmi Presbytery and the Synod of
Southern California. The commission has talked about giving the former
General Assembly moderator a larger, more formal role, as the First church's
"designated" or "stated supply" pastor.

	The congregation split last spring after it tried to call the Rev.
Song Kyu Pak as pastor.

	Because Pak was the subject of an administrative inquiry in Olympia
Presbytery, where he had been pastor of Joong-Ang Presbyterian Church, in
Tacoma, WA, Olympia could not release him to accept the Torrance call. For
the same reason, Hanmi Presbytery could not receive him as a member.

	On April 24, Pak announced that he had renounced the jurisdiction of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a majority of the Torrance church voted
to leave the denomination and affiliate with the Korean Presbyterian Church
in America (KPCA). 

	The breakaway faction seized control of the church's property. Since
the first Sunday in May, the loyalist group has worshipped in a nearby park
or high school, while insisting that they have a right to use the church
facilities. 

	So far, the courts have supported the loyalists. On June 6, a judge
issued a preliminary ruling that the property is owned by the PC(USA) and
that both factions have "every right" to use it until a final ruling is
issued next June. The court ordered the two groups to work out a compromise.

	Such a deal has proved elusive. The relationship between the two
factions has become increasingly acrimonious.

	On Sunday, June 26, a skirmish broke out in the sanctuary after a
group of loyalists - accompanied by the current moderator of the General
Assembly, Rick Ufford-Chase, and officials of Hanmi Presbytery and the Synod
of Southern California and Hawaii - showed up between services, asserting its
right to use "its home church" for its own worship.

	There was some pushing and shoving, a brief tug-of-war over the
microphone, an exchange of harsh words. Ufford-Chase, who does not speak
Korean, wasn't sure what was happening. "I give thanks to god that no one
lost his or her temper to the point of resorting to physical violence," he
wrote later.

	The loyalists drove across town to a high school, where Ufford-Chase
preached a sermon on hospitality and reconciliation.

	The moderator wrote later on his Web site that that Sunday was
"absolutely the most uncomfortable and difficult day I have experienced
during my term as moderator."

	That was the last time any of the loyalists set foot inside First
church - until last Sunday, World Communion Sunday, when the loyalists met
for worship in the fellowship hall while the dissidents continued using the
sanctuary. Rhee and Pak had negotiated an agreement.

	"We wanted to use the sanctuary," Rhee said, "but for the sanctity of
worship, we went to the fellowship hall so we would not disrupt the
dissidents' worship."
 
	"Everything was beautiful Sunday," Rhee told the Presbyterian News
Service in an Oct. 4 interview. "Some were disappointed that we (the
loyalists) could not use the sanctuary, but Rev. Pak and I agreed that we
wanted no chaos."

	Some of the loyalists wanted to stay in the fellowship hall after the
service, but Rhee persuaded them to leave. "They had not been back in their
church for five months, and wanted to stay," he said, "but my spirit has
always been one of peace and reconciliation."

	Later that day, Rhee and a few of the loyalists attended Pak's
installation as pastor of the now-KPCA congregation. During the service, Pak
said he felt "honor and gratitude" that Rhee was in attendance, and credited
him for keeping the peace that morning. The congregation responded with warm
applause for Rhee.

	But all was still not well. 

	When they learned about how the dissident congregation had welcomed
Rhee, some loyalists "were irate, and began to wildly spread the opinion that
I am not on their side," the former moderator said, adding: "You know, being
a peacemaker and reconciler can be a very difficult thing."

	Rhee said the dissidents finally seem willing to take part in
negotiations over the use of the church building.

	The civil court judge has refused to intervene. "He keeps saying,
'You work it out between yourselves,'" Rhee said. "But there has been no
negotiation until now."

	On Oct. 6, representatives of both factions will meet for the first
time to try to work out an agreement that would enable the loyalist group to
resume worshipping in the sanctuary.

	"We are doing all we can," Rhee said. "The time has come for pushing
the loyalists out of the building to stop. We have been patient long enough."

	The Torrance split is unusually acrimonious, but not uncommon among
Korean Presbyterians, Rhee said: "There is a history of coming and going
between the KPCA and the PC(USA). It's very unfortunate, but unfortunately
true."

	The KPCA and the PC(USA) are in full communion.

	Next Sunday, the loyalist congregation - still known as First
Presbyterian Church of Torrance - will meet as a congregation to elect new
elders. Rhee hopes the administrative commission will soon reestablish the
session.

	And Rhee, who is on leave from a teaching position at Union
Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond,
VA, must decide how deeply he wants to be involved in First church. 

	"I am praying very much to discern God's will," he said. "There is so
much healing that needs to happen here."

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