 Hispanic ministry celebrates 'opportunity' Friday, June 21, 2002
In a dinner presentation, Rodriguez provide an update on the work of Hispanic ministries in the past year, saying, "The Spanish world is alive and well and hard at work, and the Spanish ministry is working right along with it." Stressing that "one out of eight people in this country are Hispanic," he cited as an example of a thriving ministry the recent creation of an organization for Hispanic youths. Asian-American contributions to church honored The next challenge for Asian-Americans in the Presbyterian Church (USA) is to develop enough confidence to seek pastorates in Caucasian congregations, former Moderator Syngman Rhee told a gathering of the National Asian Presbyterian Council. He said that, in light of the shortage of ministers, another challenge is to teach presbyteries and synods to consider Asian-American candidates. The National Asian Presbyterian Council will hold its 30th anniversary celebration July 25-28 in Los Angeles and will recognize the contributions of the Asian-American community to the wider Presbyterian Church. "There have been so many contributions to the life of our church … and we continually need to celebrate that," said Rhee, an ardent worker for unification of North and South Korea. Moratorium on sexuality, ordination overtures rejected The Church Orders and Ministry Committee has declined to call for a moratorium on overtures concerning human sexuality and ordination standards but, instead, is recommending a year of prayer. By a 41-4 vote, the panel approved a motion calling the Presbyterian Church (USA) to prayer for a year, "with the focus of prayer to be on behalf of those with whom we disagree." It specified that the call for prayer is not meant to "prevent or be a substitute for other discussions, dialogue or actions." The committee debated, perfected and rejected a substitute motion that would have called for the moratorium. Panel backs Perkins to head Presbyterian Publishing Corporation The General Assembly Committee on Christian Education and Publications has voted to recommend that the 214th General Assembly confirm the re-election of Davis Perkins to a third, four-year term as president and publisher of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Perkins told the committee that, while 2001 was "a difficult year for the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation financially," ending with "a loss on the bottom line" of about $2.8 million, 2002 was looking better. He said sales are running about $350,000 above anticipated levels so far this year, prompting staffers to increase sales projections for 2002, which is expected to end with "a surplus over expenses" of about $250,000. "Financially, we believe we've turned the corner," he told the committee, crediting a "back-to-basics" approach to strategic planning that helped the unit to "rediscover who our core customers are." He and other officers said the corporation, which publishes about 100 volumes a year, has identified four "core market segments" for its products: congregations and congregational leaders; professional church leaders, including pastors and elders; church scholars, educators and seminarians; and members of the Presbyterian laity. Plan to help ease AIDS crisis in Africa endorsed The Peacemaking and Global Issues Committee has recommended that the 214th General Assembly adopt a plan to help ease the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa; endorse guiding principles for decisions on religious freedom; urge the United States to sign the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel land mines; and authorize the publication of the 2001-2002 Human Rights Update. The "Plan of Christian Compassion to Ameliorate the HIV/AIDS Crisis in Africa" calls for increases in PC(USA) and U.S. government funding for AIDS education, prevention, and care in Africa. The plan would create a spending goal of 0.7 percent of the denomination's international development money, and encourage the federal government to contribute 0.7 percent of the gross national product. The committee also voted to recommend that the adoption of guidelines for ethical decisions on issues of religious freedom around the world. That document would affirm religious freedom as a fundamental human right and outline steps to be taken by the PC(USA), congregations and governments to safeguard universal religious freedom. The committee also will ask commissioners to direct the stated clerk to petition President Bush to sign the Ottawa Convention, which bans the production and deployment of anti-personnel mines. The agreement has been signed by 142 nations. |
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