Commissioner seeks special meeting of
GA
Reactions are many and varied
A brief overview by Doug King
[10-19-02]
Reports have been pouring forth over the past few days about the effort
by Dr. Alex Metherell, who was an elder commissioner to the 214th
General Assembly in June, 2002, to force an extraordinary reconvening of
that assembly to deal with what he calls "a full-blown
constitutional crisis" in the Presbyterian Church.
Here's a brief outline of the situation thus far, with
links to reports far more complete than we can provide.
Your WebWeaver also adds a
few personal reflections.
Coalition conference
Oct. 3-5, 2002: The Presbyterian Coalition
gathers in Orlando for "Gathering VII," with less than 400
people in attendance, down from 1,200 last year. Among those present was
Dr. Metherell. The focus of the meeting was on demands for enforcement
of the PC(USA) constitution - which means, of course, the requirement of
"fidelity in marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in
singleness," as declared in the Book of Order, G-6.0106b. People
also spoke of how they are feeling persecuted by the denomination, how
they are planning to withhold their congregations' per capita payments
to support the denomination, and much more. You'll find good reports
from Presbyterian
Outlook and Presbyterian
News Service.
Haberer rejects cries of "constitutional
crisis"
Oct. 7, 2002: The Rev. Jack Haberer, long a
leader among the conservative advocacy groups, and presumably well aware
of Dr. Metherell's efforts, publishes a
"Viewpoint" article in Presbyterian Outlook
online, asserting that the Presbyterian Church is not in a
"constitutional crisis," but that we face a "connectional
conundrum" as some declare their intentions not to obey the
requirement of "fidelity in marriage between a man and a women or
chastity in singleness," as declared in the Book of Order,
G-6.0106b. He urges that we can best deal with this conundrum not by
continuing "to file judicial complaints like tracts being dropped
from the gospel blimp." Rather, he urges, "We can live out
that covenantal connectionalism by exercising loving discipline as the
Scriptures teach. We do need to 'convince, rebuke and encourage' (2
Timothy 4:2) those who defy the church's teachings. But we must do so
with one another, not in opposition to one another."
Metherell campaign for special Assembly goes public
Oct. 8, 2002: PresbyWeb
announces the campaign, initiated by Dr. Metherell through a
"confidential" memo to a number of commissioners to the 214th
Assembly, to request a special meeting of the same Assembly.
The full
text of Metherell's e-mail is (where else??) on PresbyWeb, in PDF
format.
Stated Clerk thanks groups on right and left for
supporting Constitution
Oct. 9: Stated
Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick sends a letter to the Covenant Network and
the Presbyterian Coalition, expressing thanks for their recent actions
"joining the Office of the Stated Clerk in urging all Presbyterians
to abide by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The
Constitution binds us together as Presbyterians. It honors the right of
dissent, but provides no avenue for open defiance, which loosens the
sinews that hold us together, not only as Presbyterians, but also as the
very body of Christ."
Layman reports Metherell's connections
to Lay Committee
Oct. 9: The
Layman Online
reports the campaign, noting that Metherell's wife, Pamela, "
is a director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, but the Lay Committee
has not taken a position on having a special meeting of the General
Assembly. It has, however, endorsed a statement titled "A Call for
Constitutional Integrity." Two other renewal groups, the Coalition
and Presbyterians For Renewal, have endorsed similar declarations.
A little side-light, thanks to the Layman:
They reported from the 212th General Assembly on the
efforts of Pamela Metherell, along with then Vice-Moderator Rebecca
McElroy and commissioner Kriss Bottino, to introduce a commissioners'
resolution aimed against a decision by the General Assembly Permanent
Judicial Commission to permit same-sex marriage services, if the
participants used some other word than "marriage" in
describing them.
Two elder commissioners - husband and wife - from one
congregation in 3 years. And one of them a member of the Lay Committee
board. Pretty impressive.
But back to our story:
Presbyterian Forum sees problems with special
session:
Oct. 10: Bob
Davis, writing on the Presbyterian Forum site, reports on the
Metherell petition as well as the "call for Confession and
Repentance from five pastors." He notes the difficulties in both
efforts, but uses them as an occasion to say: "Here's the point:
where the impression is that the process is not achieving the ends it
should - namely, upholding the whole Constitution for the whole Church -
the Stated Clerk needs to be the one who publicly, widely, and in
step-by-step fashion sets out the steps by which those results might be
achieved."
Presbyterians for Renewal rejects call for special
session
About the same time: Another of the conservative
advocacy groups, Presbyterians
for Renewal, issued a statement from its board explicitly rejecting
the call for a special Assembly as "inopportune and perhaps
misunderstood."
Layman insists there is a
crisis
Oct. 11: Robert
P. Mills of the Layman offers his own thoughts, responding
to Jack Haberer's irenic approach by saying essentially that this is not
mere conundrum - it's a crisis!
Committee on Office of General Assembly says
there's not a crisis, points to problems in call for special
session
Oct. 11: The Committee
on the Office of the General Assembly, at its regular meeting,
responds to Metherell's petition. They state unanimously that the
Presbyterian Church is not in a constitutional crisis, and that
our regular constitutional processes will deal with any disagreements
among us.
They note, too, that : "the Book of Order
requires that a request for a special meeting of the General Assembly
must specify exactly the items of business to be considered, and all
proposals for changes to, or interpretations of, the Book of Order would
still require a 120-day deadline before the session of the General
Assembly could begin." They add an estimate that a special assembly
would cost $400,000.
Since then, quiet???
Some thoughts from
your WebWeaver:
Please note: This is not an official
comment from the Witherspoon Society, but simply one person's
reflections on one more difficult time in our Presbyterian Church.
In the midst of all the complaints and accusations,
there are grace notes here:
