 Commissioners approve report on PHEWA with little discussion By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Friday, May 30, 2003
The report on PHEWA – an organization of networks that advocate for such things as abortion rights, gay ordination and progressive theology – was approved by the General Assembly Council during its January meeting in Louisville. Melissa DeRosia, a Theological Student Advisory Delegate from Louisville Seminary who has served as a PHEWA intern, said that her "experience with the staff and networks have been a blessing" because she has seen their "dedication to justice in the life of this denomination." She said that the "modes of ministry" she has seen in the networks "are an invaluable example to any minister in training" who wants to hear the "voices of the voiceless, the suffering and the marginalized." DeRosia said PHEWA responds "with compassion" and that the organization has "a historic foundation of providing thousands of volunteer hours to carry out the social mandates of the denomination." Commissioners approved the report May 29 with the following comment: "We encourage PHEWA, as resources are available, to find ways to publicize in the church resources and services available through PHEWA." PHEWA is a non-profit voluntary membership organization founded in 1955 that works in social justice and welfare ministries. It is connected to the National Ministries Division and works with middle governing bodies and congregations. The association, which provides support, training and resources to individuals, congregations and middle governing bodies, has 11 networks, including: Community Ministries and Neighborhood Organizations; the Presbyterian Aids Network; Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options; Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence Network; Presbyterian Association of Specialized Pastoral Ministries; Presbyterian Health Network; Presbyterians for Disabilities Concerns; Presbyterian Network on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse; the Presbyterian Child Advocacy Network; the Urban Network of Congregational Leadership; and the Presbyterian Serious Mental Illness Network. Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options, for example, reports in its theological statement that it "works toward God's reign where women will not be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term." Two of the network's goals for 2003 are "to continue to lift up issues of concern to pro-choice Presbyterians" and "to continue a liaison relationship with" the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (an organization that "works to ensure reproductive choice through the moral power of religious communities"). The association also offers such resources as "People at Risk Or in the Margins: The Biblical Basis for Social Justice," which states that gays and lesbians are "victims of prejudicial violence in our American society. The church largely excludes those who are not heterosexual from positions of leadership. Though we have applied biblical principles in other cases, such as in the case of the ordination of women, rather than the concrete specifics of the biblical law, the church continues to apply the concrete specifics to the case of homosexuals. … The people at risk in American society consist of different groups than that existing in the Middle East twenty or twenty-five centuries ago. …" "Let us not get caught up in applying the specific prohibitions that were important for a culture so far removed from our own. The prohibitions against homosexual behavior originated in a time when reproductive power was of premium importance. A family's survival could depend on having sufficient children to work the land and to inherit ancestral property. … Now we live in a culture in which overpopulation represents a real problem. As a church, it is time to relinquish our grip on the cultural specifics and focus instead on the biblical principle of providing for the marginalized." |
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