Hurdle is raised for called meeting of General Assembly By John H. Adams The Layman Online Friday, May 30, 2003 215th General Assembly Denver, Colo. May 24-31, 2003 General Assembly news index DENVER – After a petition for a called meeting of the General Assembly almost succeeded earlier this year – despite the determined opposition of many of the denomination's top leaders – the 215th General Assembly has decided to raise the hurdle so that a reoccurrence is unlikely. Without any debate, the commissioners voted 436-67 on Thursday to ask presbyteries to change the constitution so that at least one-fourth of the commissioners to a General Assembly would have to formally request a special General Assembly before the moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) would be required to comply. Currently, the Book of Order requires the moderator to call a General Assembly back into session at the request of 50 commissioners – 25 elders and 25 ministers. Based on the 548 commissioners registered for the 215th General Assembly, the minimum required for a recall would be about 138 – at least 69 elders and 69 ministers. Earlier this year, commissioners to the 214th General Assembly secured enough signatures to require Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel to call that assembly back into session to deal with disciplinary issues in the face of a growing constitutional crisis in the church. But Abu-Akel lobbied against the petition after he received it, and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick's office asked commissioners to vote again. The clerk's office invalidated a number of signatures, although no one who signed a petition for the special session denied having done so. A remedial complaint was filed against Abu-Akel and Kirkpatrick. The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission dismissed a conspiracy charge against Kirkpatrick, but reprimanded Abu-Akel for lobbying against the special meeting. After the Office of the Stated Clerk prepares the ballot for the issue, presbyteries will begin voting on the issue later this year. Conceivably, a called meeting under the 50-commissioner rule could be instigated by the commissioners to the 215th General Assembly.

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