More than half of
the overtures
to GA deal with three issues:
ordination, task force, divestment
By John H.
Adams
The Layman
Online
Monday, February
20, 2006
BY THE NUMBERS
31
overtures on G-6.0106b, the "fidelity/chastity"
clause in the Book of Order. 22 call for the repeal of the
standard and the Authoritative Interpretation that undergirds it;
nine ask the General Assembly to reaffirm the standard.
15
overtures respond to the
report of the Theological Task Force. Only one – from the
National Capital Presbytery – calls for adoption of the task
force report "without amending any aspects of the report."
The other 14 offer a number of reasons to reject the recommendations
of the task force.
12
overtures address the
resolution on divestment adopted by the 216th General Assembly. None
recommends continuing to move forward with an economic policy that
would penalize Israel alone. |
More than half the overtures to the 217th General Assembly deal
with three issues:
1) whether to repeal the constitutional "fidelity/chastity"
ordination clause in the Book of Order;
2) whether to proceed with "phased selective divestment" of
the denomination's holdings in corporations that do business with
Israel;
3) and whether to approve the recommendations of the Theological Task
Force on Peace, Unity and Purity in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
So far, the Office of the General Assembly has reported receiving 94
overtures – plus an additional 21 that are now considered
concurrences to previous overtures – for a total of 115 overtures.
Of that total, 58 deal with ordination, divestment and the Theological
Task Force report.
While those issues are expected to draw the most attention, many of the
other overtures respond to ongoing controversies in the denomination
(their assigned number is included):
- Overture 26, Redstone Presbytery, opposes abortion of "viable,
unborn babies."
- Overture 40, Newton Presbytery, asks the General Assembly to
declare that Christians, Jews and Muslims "worship the same God
– the God worshiped by Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Moses, Mary,
Jesus and Muhammad – and ask the one true God to bless efforts
in dialog, building bridges of harmony and fighting violence and
terror."
- Overture 69, Carlisle Presbytery, would require nonprofit
organizations to list all of the people who contribute $1,000 or
more to their ministries before they would be eligible for display
space in the General Assembly exhibit hall.
Deadlines for overtures
120-day deadline (Feb. 15): overtures requesting
amendment to or interpretation of the Book of Order. These
overtures are then automatically referred to the Advisory Committee
on the Constitution for advice to the General Assembly (G-18.0301).
90-day deadline (March 17): overtures having financial implications
for current or future budgets.
45-day deadline (May 1): all other overtures.
All deadlines are postmark deadlines.
Overtures that are not received by the deadline are returned to the
originating governing body. |
- Overture 71, Stockton Presbytery, would amend Chapter 8 (the
property chapter) of the Book of Order to allow a
congregation to retain its property if at least 60 percent of its
members voted to leave the denomination.
- Overture 76, Presbytery of San Joaquin, asks the General Assembly
to "affirm that because Holy Scripture is the authoritative
Word of God, we, The Presbyterian Church (USA), believe that Jesus
Christ is 'the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the
Father except through {him}' (John 14:6, NRSV) and that "God
has put all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has made
Christ Head of the Church, which is his body" (The Book of
Order, Form of Government, G-1.0100a).
- Three overtures – 44, Middle Tennessee; 75, Western North
Carolina; and 78, Salem – ask the General Assembly to overturn
a decision to close the Montreat Historical Center in North Carolina
and move the archives of the Presbyterian Church U.S. to
Philadelphia and Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga.
- Overture 23, Baltimore, would require that local congregations
pay their full per-capita apportionments.
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