 4 overtures seeking super-majority votes to amend Book of Order are rejected By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Overtures 02-01 from Mission Presbytery, 02-22 from Foothills Presbytery, 02-24 from New Harmony Presbyery and 02-2 from Trinity Presbytery all called for a two-thirds vote by a general assembly before amendments to the constitution could be sent to the presbyteries for a vote. The overture advocates for the four overtures gave a joint presentation to the committee. "All of our overtures have a common focus," said Owen Whitener of New Harmony Presbytery, "to try and get our denomination to get a greater consensus when trying to amend the constitution." "The energy behind these overtures is not being fueled by any issue or any group of issues," he said. "Rather, it is being fueled by the desire to bring peace and purity to the church – to get us to a point where we are working together to stem the tide of contentiousness among the denomination. … We are right to require a two-thirds majority to amend the Book of Confessions, but we are equally convinced we should require the same for the Book of Order." The Advisory Committee on the Constitution, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns all advised against approving the overtures. The Rev. Karl E. McDonald of Pittsburgh Presbytery made a motion to approve the New Harmony overture with one exception – that G6.0106b, the fidelity-chastity ordination standard in the constitution, may be amended by a simple majority within a five-year window of opportunity until the 2007 General Assembly. He said that, during earlier discussions, there was "curiosity about how this provision of our constitution might be affected, so I am simply putting forward another way to go about achieving the worthy goals of the presbyteries that brought these overtures to us and give fair consideration to those of our church who have difficulty with that part of our constitution." The committee voted down the motion, then voted to disapprove the overture. A similar overture from Olympia Presbytery that called for allowing amendments to the Book of Order and Book of Confessions every fifth year also was voted down by the committee. |
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