"Affinity groups" target
of Assembly attention
by Frank Buhrman, PNS
LOUISVILLE -- June 13 -- The official language refers
to them as "affinity groups," one speaker called them
"political groups," and others characterize them as
"pressure groups." The General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) on Wednesday passed another effort to shed light on
their operations and finances.
By a margin of more than 4-to-1, the Assembly voted in
favor of a proposal out of its Procedures Committee to ask such groups
to provide summaries of their operations, theological emphases, budget,
staff and donors of more than $1,000. These would be distributed to
General Assembly commissioners and provided to any task force studying
causes of division within the church.
The request for donor information had been deleted
from the original commissioner's resolution that the committee rewrote,
but a floor amendment restored it. Another amendment was passed asking
that commissioners receive information on any groups that refuse to
comply with the request for information.
With no means of requiring compliance, the entire
matter depends on the voluntary response of the groups.
Opposition to the request for donor information
included the concern that it would be used to intimidate, and the Civil
Rights-era effort in Mississippi to obtain a donor list of NAACP
supporters was recalled. Commissioners, however, were more concerned
with knowing as much context as possible about the groups, which
inundate them with information before the General Assembly meets each
summer.
The entire effort is a follow-up from last year's
Assembly action to request more detailed reports from affinity groups.
Those were posted on the PC(USA) website. However, fewer than half of
the groups that were asked for information complied. The new action
requests simpler submissions in hopes of wider compliance.
Demonstrations
The vote was closer, but the Assembly also followed
the Procedure Committee's lead in maintaining its ban on peaceful floor
demonstrations enacted last year.
The committee had debated long before voting against
an overture from the Presbytery of Baltimore to overturn the
demonstration ban. Supporters of demonstrations said that they reflected
a democratic tradition and the working of the Holy Spirit, and that they
gave powerless groups an opportunity to express their dissent.
However, the sentiment that prevailed held that other
opportunities exist to dissent, that demonstrations are still allowed
outside the meeting building, and that good order is essential to the
deliberative process.
That position carried the day, with 65 percent of the
commissioners voting to maintain the ban.
Advisory Delegates
The General Assembly supported three committee actions
affecting advisory delegates. One calls for guidelines to presbyteries
for the selection and ordination of Youth Advisory Delegates, (YADs).
That was something the YADs themselves had strongly supported, and the
Assembly agreed that such information could help some presbyteries find
better processes.
A second action supported the committee's disapproval
of an overture that would have reported separately the votes of
advisories in committees, where they have full "voice and
vote." Supporters called such information helpful, but those who
prevailed noted that the advisories (youth, theological students,
missionaries and ecumenical delegates) are full members of the committee
and should not have their votes separated.
Finally, the Assembly agreed to a study of the
possibility that advisories (other than the ecumenical delegates, who
are not members of the church) might be given full voting privileges in
plenary sessions. That will be a complicated issue, since many of the
advisories do not meet other voting requirements, but it still received
70 percent support.
Advisory delegates represent about one-third of all
the voting representatives to the General Assembly. In plenary sessions,
they vote first, to "advise" the commissioners (ordained
clergy and elders), who then cast the official votes.
In far less contested actions, the Assembly voted to
approve six Office of the General Assembly staff members (Loyda Aja,
Kerry Clements, Gradye Parsons, Mark Tammen, Gary Torrens and Robina
Wimbush) as associate stated clerks and re-elected a seventh (Frederick
Heuser).
