25 Gordon Terrace
AYR
KA8 0EX
14 December 1996
Dear Synod
The Petition of the undersigned humbly shows that:
1. Your Petitioner duly brought an appeal to the Glasgow Presbytery of the Free Church of Scotland meeting on 10 December 1996 against the action of the Kirk Session of Ayr Free Church in barring the Petitioner from services without summoning your Petitioner to the bar.
2a. That the Presbytery came to a decision not to receive the appeal without summoning your Petitioner to the bar, thus depriving him of access to the Court of Synod by appeal.
2b. That it was the mind of Presbytery not to intimate its decision, which had been taken in camera, to your Petitioner.
(Enquiry made of the Presbytery Clerk, Harry Woods, and the Interim Moderator of Ayr Free Church, Bill Scott, revealed these two items.)
3. That consequently your Petitioner seeks the intervention of the Southern Synod in respect of the aforesaid matters.
Signed,
Paul Mansbacher
"And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger who is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's; and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it." - Deuteronomy 1:16-17
"Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger as for one of your own country; for I am the LORD your God." - Leviticus 24:22
"Cursed be he who perverteth the judgment due of the stranger, fatherless and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen." - Deuteronomy 27:19
"Thus saith the LORD, Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. ... But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the LORD, that this house shall become a desolation." - Jeremiah 22:3,5
Response
At Cumbernauld and within the Free Church there on the fifteenth day of April 1997 the Southern Synod met and was constituted.
Inter alia:
Report of the Bills and Overtures Committee.
6. Appeal from Mr Paul Mansbacher. The Committee found this appeal receivable in form. It noted that the appeal appeared to raise an issue of principle and recommended that it be passed in to the Synod. ... The report was approved.
Inter alia:
Synod then proceeded to consider the appeal from Mr. Paul Mansbacher
concerning the refusal of the Glasgow Presbytery to receive
an appeal against actions of the Kirk Session of Ayr Free Church
of Scotland. It was moved and seconded that this matter be dealt
with in private. It was moved and seconded that the matter be
dealt with in public. On the vote being taken the second motion
was carried. The Clerk then moved on behalf of the Business
Committee in the following terms: (i) That because of the issue
of principle involved, viz., the rights of individuals who are
not members or adherents of the Free Church to pursue matters
through the courts of the Church, the issue of principle involved
should be passed up to the General Assembly by way of reference.
(ii) that Synod authorise the Clerk together with the Clerks of
the Presbyteries of Edinburgh and Perth, and Argyll and Lochaber
to frame the terms of the reference. This was seconded. It was
moved and seconded that the appeal be not received as the petitioner
is not subject to the discipline of the Church. On the
vote being taken, the second motion carried and became the finding
of the Synod. The Clerk entered simple dissent. Rev. A.
Howat, Rev M. Radcliffe, Professor H Cartwright, Mr D. Jack,
and Dr T. Maclean adhered to his dissent. Mr. Mansbacher indicated
his intention to appeal to the General Assembly.
Extracted from the Minutes of the Southern Synod by
John R. McIntosh
Clerk of Synod