Public hearing scheduled on PCUSA family report By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, September 9, 2003 A controversial Presbyterian paper titled "Living Faithfully with Families in Transition" will be aired out during a public hearing on Sept. 24. The hearing will begin at 8:45 a.m. at Louisville Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Ky., the home city of the headquarters for the Presbyterian Church (USA). During its meeting in May, the 215th General Assembly rejected the first take – ordering the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to strengthen it theologically with help from the denomination's Office of Worship and Theology. That office is fine-tuning its theological review of "Living Faithfully." Dr. Charles Wiley, an associate in the Office of Theology and Worship, said the theological review should be available for members of the advisory committee a week before the hearing. The first draft of "Living Faithfully" drew a rejection slip after an avalanche of criticism – including some from outside the PCUSA – that the paper failed to reflect Biblical and theological understandings about Christian families. "The policy, if adopted, will put the PCUSA on record officially sanctioning every deviant form of family, thus redefining family altogether," Terry Schlossberg, executive director of Presbyterians Pro-Life, said before the General Assembly considered the paper. "It will erase the significance of marriage to healthy family life." Keying in on the public hearing, Alan Wisdom of Presbyterian Action, an evangelical think-tank, has called for "major revisions" in the family paper, which is being proposed as a guideline for how Presbyterian congregations should minister to families. Before the General Assembly met, Wisdom had written a comprehensive criticism of the paper, which recommended that the church not use the traditional model of parents and children as its standard for the family. The paper viewed as "family" such alternatives as homosexual couples and unwed mothers. Before the advisory committee's paper went to the floor of the full General Assembly, Wisdom and others drafted a substitute document, which was approved by a General Assembly Committee. But the full assembly rejected both the advisory committee and the substitute reports and ordered the advisory committee to revise the document. The advisory committee's paper was also criticized by noted church historian Martin E. Marty and sociologist Don Browning of the University of Chicago Divinity School. Marty said the Presbyterian report was inspired by "Pollyanna and Pangloss" – references to wishful thinking and glossing over the theological record. Browning published a seven-page assessment titled "How Inclusiveness becomes Elitist: Reflections on the Presbyterian Report on Families." The text for the Presbyterian report, as it was presented to the General Assembly committee, is published in the agenda for the assembly's Committee on National Issues. "There is no singular form of family, no ideal family form," the report says. "Family forms, as creations of cultures, are multiple both in history, cross-culturally, and in contemporary U.S. society. The church must resist the temptation to raise up as ideal any one form of family and, thereby, to stigmatize other forms of families." The paper document discredits the writings of the Apostle Paul on the issues of marriage and sex. "In considering Paul's teachings on the family, it is essential to distinguish between those writings that scholars agree are authentically Pauline and other writings that were written at a later time and attributed to him," the report says. "The two often reflect quite different outlooks on key questions. It is also necessary to understand Paul's teachings in light of the prevailing social assumptions and moral traditions of the time. Paul, like many educated Jews of his day, was deeply influenced both by Jewish law and tradition and by prevalent Greek moral culture concerning family, marriage and especially sexuality." The advisory committee will discuss the report by the Office of Theology and Worship during its evening session on Sept. 23. The hearing on Sept. 24 is scheduled to last from 8:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. Peter Sulyok, the coordinator of the advisory committee, said people should contact his office to sign up in advance. Comments will be limited to two to five minutes, depending on how many plan to speak. "People who are unable to travel to Louisville and yet wish to communicate with the Changing Families Panel may send their feedback and concerns to the ACSWP offices," Sulyok said. He noted that e-mail is a convenient way of communicating with the committee, but "the traditional mail response is also welcomed." Write to Peter Sulyok, coordinator, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, Presbyterian Church USA, 100 Witherspoon Street, Room 3607, Louisville, KY 40202-1396; or reach the ACSWP office by phone at (800) 728-7228, ext. 5814, or by fax at (502) 569-8041.

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