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Semper Reformanda and Witherspoon
leaders send open letter to John Detterick, protesting his recent
statement
The following open letter has been sent to John Detterick by some
leaders of Semper Reformanda and the Witherspoon Society, who were
attending the Covenant Network conference in Pittsburgh last week and
learned there of Detterick's address to the Gathering of the
Presbyterian Coalition.
Semper Reformanda (Always Being
Reformed)
An independent organization of Presbyterians
November 4, 2000
An open letter to John Detterick
Executive Director of the General Assembly Council
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Dear John:
We leaders of Semper Reformanda and the Witherspoon
Society, meeting in Pittsburgh, were disappointed and alarmed to hear
reports of your address to the recent Gathering of the Presbyterian
Coalition regarding the plenary presentation by Dirk Ficca to the
Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference this summer. Our understanding of
what you said relies on the reports published by the Presbyterian Layman
and Presbyterian News Service (00391)
and remarks by Peter Pizor here at the
Covenant Network conference. We'd rather hear it from you directly and
call on you to immediately release the
full text of your address.
We have a number of concerns based on what we know
now, but they fall into two broad categories:
 | We ask you not to backtrack on your existing
statements on this matter. The initial response to the alarm raised
by the PNS report on Ficca's speech -- that response signed by you
and Peter Pizor as GAC chair -- was measured and appropriate to your
and Peter's roles. We agree that that response was ultimately
inadequate, but we see its inadequacies mostly in its failure to
support the staff of the Peacemaking Program and in your readiness
to believe the worst about a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the
PC(USA). In that first response, you defended the principles of open
discussion in our church. Your suggestions of contextualizing the
most challenging talks through such means as panel discussions are
helpful. But we ask you to be careful not to cross into the realm of
gag rules and prior restraint of conscience and speech.
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It would be more consistent with our polity to ask
the 213th General Assembly to consider a review of conference planning
policies than to rush to establish a task force in a 45-day emergency,
especially since more than that time has already passed since the
"emergency" happened. We appreciate Peter Pizor's assurances
yesterday that the review will not be retroactive, will not be
targeted to the 2000 Peacemaking Conference, and will not involve
"witch hunt[ing]" or "blame" laying. We wish we
had those assurances from you as well. And these parameters are
undermined by the appearance of an emergency response to the specific
problem of the Peacemaking Conference.
| The Layman's report makes it appear that you
have exceeded the authority of your office in making theological
judgments. Although we understand you may have been quoting others'
characterizations of Ficca's remarks as "out of bounds,"
you apparently did not take the opportunity, in your interview with
PNS, to disavow the attribution of the phrase to you. We wish you
had and urge you to do so as soon as possible. The 210th General
Assembly (1998) specifically declined to establish an Advisory
Committee on Doctrine, reserving to itself, the presbyteries, and
the judicial process the role of doctrinal watchdog. We also hope
you will resist the temptation to preempt judicial action, which is
every Presbyterian's assurance of due process. Neither you nor the
GAC could or should be asked to conduct an investigation of or
otherwise "deal with" unpublished complaints by two
particular churches. If any see errors worthy of formal complaints
against the GAC, let them file those complaints appropriately with
the office of the Stated Clerk for investigation into their
substance, the locus of the putative error, and the potential for
remedy.
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We understand that you met Thursday with concerned
staff members. We applaud this action and add our support for all
members of GAC staff as well as a special note of concern that due
process for staff should not be preempted. The complaints you have heard
from the Coalition come from a limited set of perspectives and have been
expressed outside the orderly procedures of the denomination. We hope to
continue to work with you and to help you to honorably fulfill the trust
of your position, which is after all owed to the whole church.
Yours in the hope of Shalom,
Barbara Kellam-Scott
Moderator, SR(ABR)
Kenneth R. Smith
Past Moderator, SR(ABR)
Nile Harper
Vice Moderator, SR (ABR)
Jose Olagues
SR(ABR) Leadership Team
Harold Porter
SR(ABR) Leadership Team
Eugene TeSelle
Past President, Witherspoon Society
Christian Iosso
Issues Analyst, Witherspoon Society
Helenmarie Sunkenberg
Member, Albany Presbytery
cc: Bob Bullock, Presbyterian Outlook
Peter Pizor,
GAC Chair
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GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
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Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
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personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
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After fifteen years of scholarship
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and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
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John Harris’ Summit to
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
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