Battle over PC(USA) ordination
standards is expected to dominate General Assembly
"Fidelity and chastity" clause is back on
agenda after 2-year break
by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - 18-April-2001 - After a two-year moratorium, the issue of
sexual-conduct standards for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA)
is poised to retake center stage when the 213th General Assembly
convenes in Louisville on June 9.
The current ordination standard - "fidelity within the covenant of
marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness" -
was approved by the 1996 General Assembly (GA) and later ratified by the
church's 173 presbyteries (district governing bodies). A move by the
1997 GA to delete the requirement - now G-6.0106b of the denomination's
Book of Order - was overwhelmingly defeated by the presbyteries. The
1999, Assembly declared a two-year moratorium on amendments to G-6.0106b
and asked Presbyterians to study and discuss "the unity we share in
our diversity."
Now that the moratorium has expired, two dozen presbyteries have
petitioned the GA to amend the ordination requirement. Most urge that G-6.0106b
be excised from the Book of Order. Three presbyteries are calling for a
"waiver" clause in the constitution that would exempt
congregations (which ordain elders and deacons) and presbyteries (which
ordain ministers) from the ordination requirements if they cannot
"in good conscience" comply with them. The Chicago-area
Midwest Hanmi Presbytery - composed entirely of Korean Presbyterians -
wants the Assembly to simply declare that "resolution has been
reached on the matter of human sexuality related to eligibility for
ordination."
This year's weeklong GA also will address the deeper problem of the
continued unity of the 2.5-million-member PC(USA). While there has
not been much talk of schism, the presbyteries' defeat of a proposed
amendment to ban same-sex union ceremonies, and a still-simmering
controversy over a speaker's suggestion during a Presbyterian conference
last summer that Jesus may not be the only way to salvation, have
fomented several demands that the GA take stronger stands on doctrinal
issues such as Christology and salvation. Several presbyteries are
calling for a special committee to try to find a way out of the
theological conflicts that plague the denomination.
Disgruntled conservatives, led by the Presbyterian Lay Committee, are
calling for a loyalty oath that all Assembly program staff
members would be required to sign, endorsing three "essential
confessions": the infallibility of Scripture, Jesus Christ as the
only way to salvation, and heterosexual marriage as the only permissible
form of sexual expression.
Abortion, another perennially volatile issue, will also be on the
Assembly's agenda. Current GA policy is moderately pro-choice: It
affirms a woman's right to choose, but cautions that abortion should be
the choice of last resort for women facing problem pregnancies. One
measure coming to this year's GA would ban funding of late-term
abortions by the church's Board of Pensions (which also administers the
denomination's medical-benefits plan). Another calls for the Assembly to
express "moral opposition" to any abortion of a fetus older
than 20 weeks except to preserve the life of the mother. Another would
require advance parental notification before the Board of Pensions
approves payment for an abortion for a minor.
Likely to get lost in the hubbub, but still critical for the PC(USA),
are a number of other issues that will affect the denomination's
ministry and witness for years. Among them:
 | Domestic violence: The church's Advisory
Committee on Social Witness Policy is bringing a comprehensive
policy statement on domestic violence that recommends scores of
actions by congregations and governing bodies to combat the growing
problem of domestic violence in U.S. society. |
| Campus ministry: A major strategy for
revitalizing PC(USA) campus ministry is coming to the Assembly. At
least two decades of retrenchment in church-sponsored
campus-ministry programs are believed to have contributed to the
denomination's membership decline. |
| Entrance into pastoral ministry: Faced with
a clergy shortage exacerbated by a disproportionate burnout rate for
new pastors, a churchwide strategy is being proposed to strengthen
support systems for first-pastorate ministers. The report calls for
closer relationships between candidates for ministry, their
congregations, seminaries and oversight committees of presbyteries. |
| Ecumenical relations: After reaching
agreements in recent years with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America and the other churches in the Consultation on Church Union,
the GA will turn its attention this year to the Roman Catholic
Church. After recent dialogues with Vatican representatives in
Louisville and Rome, the PC(USA)'s Committee on Ecumenical Relations
will ask the Assembly to declare "real but incomplete
communion" with the Catholic Church, and to urge the World
Alliance of Reformed Churches to join negotiations aimed at
agreement between Catholic and Reformed churches on the doctrine of
justification. Catholics and Lutherans signed a similar agreement
last year. |
