Methodists to vote on building in city

A long-standing dispute over the use of the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill will be put to a vote this week when United Methodists gather in Pittsburgh to revise their church bylaws.

Local temperance activists say the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), the corporation in charge of the building, has violated a trust agreement because it has used the assets on issues other than those related to temperance.

“They’ve spent the money willy-nilly, doing whatever they want with it for the past 40 years,” said Richard R. Haight, a retired trial attorney and member of Grace United Methodist Church in Gaithersburg. “They should be spending 60 [percent] to 75 percent of it on temperance because alcohol is the reason most Methodists paid for those assets.”

The 1965 trust agreement states that all principal and income from the trust’s assets — including the $9 million Methodist Building on Maryland Avenue NE near the U.S. Supreme Court — is restricted for “work in the areas of temperance and alcohol problems.”

Gretchen Hakola, spokeswoman for the GBCS, which controls the assets, said the corporation has long interpreted the agreement as including “problems involving public morals, gambling, drug abuse and general welfare.”

“We’ve always spent the money on general operating expenses,” Ms. Hakola said. “The income from the trust is unrestricted and is designated by the board.”

She said the corporation revised its classification of the assets in 2002 and is not in violation of any District laws.

According to an internal audit, the GBCS in 2001 controlled about $21.3 million in assets, including two buildings on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Haight said 38 separate petitions to replace the GBCS are pending at the meeting this week of the United Methodist General Conference in Pittsburgh. The conference meets every four years to revise the official disciplines of the 10.3 million-member denomination.

“We’re seeking to eliminate the General Board of Church and Society and transfer its assets to a new commission devoted to promoting awareness about alcoholism and other drugs,” Mr. Haight said.

Retiring Baltimore-Washington Bishop Felton E. May said he trusts the conference will make the right decision.

Thirty percent of delegates to the 2000 General Conference voted to eliminate the GBCS. The 2004 conference in Pittsburgh convenes Tuesday.

In the 1960s, the General Conference created the GBCS to assume control of the assets when a previous corporation, the Board of Temperance, dissolved just before a merger of two Methodist denominations.

Ms. Hakola said the GBCS employs program directors to deal with civil and human rights issues, racism, violence against women, church-state separation issues, homosexual rights, addictions and health care.

“There are certainly some Methodists out there who think alcoholism is the most important social issue, but we are concerned with a range of issues,” she said.

Mr. Haight, who spent his legal career defending people accused of drunken driving, said GBCS activities violate the trust because they are political rather than moral.

“The church should not be in the political sphere,” Mr. Haight said. “The GBCS should not be using its income for controversial activities like antiwar activities.”