Letter to the Editor

“If one member suffers, all suffer together . . .” (1 Cor. 12:26)

Many parts of the church are certainly hurting at this time. I am particularly aware of the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) and its facility in Montreat. I served as the moderator of the task forced charged with the responsibility of exploring the future direction for the PHS operations.

My first trip to Montreat was in 1970, to one of the first youth conferences. (Several members of our youth group approached the session to ask permission to raise money to attend the conference. This was highly unusual for the session of a congregation in the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which strictly adhered to a unified budget.) Our youth director took me to the PHS facility in Montreat because our session had sent its records there that summer to be copied. She showed me the session minutes where my name had been recorded. I was impressed that our church’s records could be found in Montreat. But I was more impressed with Lookout Mountain, the coffee house (this was the 70s) in Upper Anderson Auditorium, the worship services and singing, and the experience of fellowship with other Christians that were to shape my decisions about my vocation. Even so, I caught a glimpse of our connectional church.

In October 2003, as a member of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA), I was honored to be asked to serve on a task force for PHS. That the Montreat PHS facility would be included was a bonus, since I had been there and knew what treasures were held in that facility. Two members of the task force lived in Montreat, one member served on the Montreat Conference Center Board of Directors, and another had been on the Committee on the Presbyterian Historical Society that had designed the new governing structure for PHS. This depth of knowledge and representation led to lively discussion and pointed questions. Montreat was not our only concern, but it claimed a good bit of our time. We were also well served by staff members from PHS—the care of archives and collections is complicated, difficult, and very expensive.

Of our work together and the report we generated, the most intriguing was the possibility of a Program for the Study of Presbyterian and Reformed History and Theology at Montreat, in partnership with Columbia Theological Seminary and the Montreat Conference Center. To launch this idea, we supported a feasibility study with other partners, because the program was dependent upon private funds, given that future per capita funds could not support the facility at Montreat. Months later, much past the time line the task force had set, COGA learned from the feasibility study that private funds were not available, either. A development project of this scope would take at least ten years, which means we should have begun ten years ago to establish the kind of endowment we need now.

After all of the hard work and long hours we had devoted to this project, it was difficult to give up the dream of a program in Montreat. But I am grateful that Columbia Seminary has a visionary president who is willing to propose to her board of trustees that the seminary take up part of this project, to receive many of the records and documents as part of Columbia’s library, and to launch a new educational effort so that generations to come may have wide access to the treasures of our history, particularly in the South. Columbia has innovative faculty who will design programs and curriculum to use these materials, and Columbia’s students will have access to this collection in a manner not possible before. The seminary’s library is well suited to receive this collection, and the location has wide access, so the criteria set by the task force are being met.

The second part of the Scripture quoted at the beginning of this article is “. . . if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” It is good that we may rejoice together, because the tradition of our church is well placed in the hands of our Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Historical Society, and theological institutions like Columbia Seminary.

—Cathy Ulrich, co-pastor, Central Presbyterian Church, Fort Smith, Arkansas