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General Assembly Council chair delays plan to
appoint conference-planning-review task force
Full Council will address issues raised by
Peacemaking speaker
 Congregational
Ministries Division objected to control over conference speakers.
by Gary Luhr, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- 14-November-2000 -- The chair of the
General Assembly Council (GAC), Peter Pizor, of Las Vegas, NM, has
delayed plans to appoint a task force to review GAC conference planning
in the wake of controversy over a speech made during last summer's
Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference.
Pizor planned to name a task force by the end of the
year to evaluate conference-planning procedures. That decision came
after an outpouring of criticism of a keynote address at the Peacemaking
Conference in Orange, CA, in which the Rev. Dirk Ficca, a Presbyterian
minister from Chicago and executive director of the Parliament of World
Religions, said that Jesus Christ might not be the only way to
salvation.
"I believe that moving ahead and establishing a
task force at this time is not helpful," Pizor said in letter sent
to GAC members on November 13. Instead, he said, during its Feb. 19-24
meeting in Louisville, the full Council "will deal with the many
issues and concerns" generated by Ficca's remarks.
In the letter, Pizor said that many GAC members had
expressed concern about appointing a task force, to him and to Detterick.
"You have cautioned John and me to not get ahead
of the process," he told the council.
Pizor thanked the group "for your willingness to
speak the truth in love," and asked its members to "continue
to help guide us as we work through these difficult issues."
The letter came less than a week after the GAC's
Congregational Ministries Division Committee, meeting in Santa Fe, NM,
adopted a statement affirming "trust and faith" in
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conference planning, and "the right of
all invited conference speakers to voice their opinion in conference
settings."
for earlier reports
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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
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
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
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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