Semper Reformanda and Witherspoon Society seal
merger
This press release was issued by the two groups during
General Assembly, on June 14, 2001
[published here on 6-27-01]
The longest-running independent, multi-issue
organization of progressive Presbyterians and the newest have combined
strength to strength. The Witherspoon Society voted unanimously at its
annual meeting on Saturday, June 9, and Semper Reformanda voted, also
unanimously, at its meeting Tuesday, June 12, to accept a Memorandum of
Agreement to merge.
The Memorandum, drafted by a joint committee, calls
for election of a joint board of directors which will work out further
details of the union. The new board, which will formally begin its work
with a September meeting, includes Jane Hanna of Santa Fe, NM,
continuing as president, and Ken Smith of Southfield, MI, a former
moderator of Semper Reformanda, as vice president. New officers include
Richard Hong of Paramus, NJ, as treasurer, Jill Acree of Ada, OK, as
secretary, and at-large members Jose Olagues of Phoenix, AZ, and Barbara
Kellam-Scott of Sussex, NJ.
The new organization integrates both organizations'
purposes, Witherspoon's 29 years of concern for peace, racial, economic
and gender justice, and Semper Reformanda's concern to connect
theological discernment with on-going renewal of the church. The name,
Semper Reformanda ("always being reformed") will be continued
in separate pages of the Witherspoon Network News, in a page on
the Society's Web site, and in General Assembly events such as a pre-GA
theological conversation, for which attendance has increased steadily
during Semper's existence.
"The two groups have had significant overlap in
membership and vision since Semper was founded," says Jane Hanna,
who continues as president of the Witherspoon Society. "We who've
been most active as Witherspoon are very excited to gain more formal
participation in Semper's theological and reflective emphases."
Hanna's view was seconded by Ken Smith, who was a founder of Semper
Reformanda in 1995 at the 207th General Assembly and will serve as vice
president of the new organization. "Semper and its constituent
organizations have always relied on Witherspoon's political savvy, both
in the church and in civil society," he noted. "More directly
joining that political sense and the activities that promote it with the
theological underpinnings that have been Semper's focus seems an
undeniable way to serve the PC(USA) better."
The new Witherspoon Society will continue to provide
briefing and training for commissioners at the opening of each General
Assembly. The new board will also consider how to continue Semper
Reformanda's organic relationship with issue-oriented progressive
groups, including More Light Presbyterians, Voices of Sophia, the
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation,
possibly through a new advisory board. The Witherspoon Society has
already begun a focus in 2001-2 on developing Whole-Gospel
congregations, beginning with a consultation at the Claremont
Presbyterian Church, and will continue exploring how churches can live
out the full meaning of the Gospel in healing and justice for their
communities and the world.
Another continuing program begun by Semper Reformanda
is the Robert J. Stone PC(USA) Washington Office internship, whose first
incumbent was introduced at Tuesday night's dinner by Washington Office
director Elenora Giddings Ivory. Intern Jenny Lin, who is just
graduating from the University of California and has been a leader of
the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, will work with the
Washington Office through the coming academic year. Her position has
been funded primarily by an appeal begun by Semper Reformanda to honor
its founding visionary, social-justice preacher Rev. Robert J. Stone.
