Session asks Santa
Fe
Presbytery to support
ordination requirements
The Layman
Online
Wednesday, October
18, 2006
Presbyteries
responding to calls
for Constitutional enforcement
|
|
Presbytery |
Congs. |
Members |
Actions |
| 1 |
Central Florida |
74 |
29,905 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 2 |
Donegal |
62 |
22,822 |
Resolution under review
|
| 3 |
Eastminster |
54 |
11,578 |
Seven resolutions under
review |
| 4 |
Holston |
66 |
8,367 |
Referred to Bills and
Overtures |
| 5 |
Mississippi |
46 |
6,205 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 6 |
Pittsburgh |
153 |
43,855 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 7 |
Sacramento |
42 |
15,941 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 8 |
San Diego |
31 |
16,741 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 9 |
San Francisco |
77 |
28,132 |
Considers competing
proposals |
| 10 |
Scioto Valley |
113 |
23,940 |
Review scheduled |
| 11 |
Sierra Blanca |
22 |
2,162 |
Under review |
| 12 |
Utah |
24 |
4,009 |
Review at Oct. 13-14 meeting
|
| 13 |
Western N.C. |
115 |
19,937 |
Affirmed standards but
approved exemption on case-by-case basis |
| 14 |
Whitewater Valley |
68 |
23,289 |
Second reading Dec. 6 |
| 15 |
South Louisiana |
67 |
10,322 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 16 |
New Covenant
|
109 |
39,416 |
Affirmed
constitutional standards |
| 17 |
Beaver-Butler |
87 |
15,329 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 18 |
James |
113 |
28,259 |
Vote on Oct. 10 |
| 19 |
San Joaquin |
34 |
7,980 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 20 |
Olympia |
50 |
10,800 |
Affirmed constitutional
standards |
| 21 |
Santa Barbara |
30 |
9,378 |
Under review
|
| 22 |
Santa Fe |
43 |
7,118 |
Under review
|
|
Another presbytery has been asked to assert that it will not
consider candidates for ordination who declare "scruples" in
opposition to the "fidelity/chastity" ordination requirement
in the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The resolution by the session of White Presbyterian Church in the
Presbytery of Santa Fe is the 22nd reported to The Layman Online in
response to the 2006 General Assembly's approval of an authoritative
interpretation that gives ordaining bodies the option to decide that the
ordination requirement is not an essential.
Santa Fe Presbytery voted by decisive margins in 1997, 1998 and 2001
against the ordination requirement.
The following is the text of the resolution:
- Whereas, the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church,
U.S.A., has adopted, in amended form, the Authoritative
Interpretation of G-6.0108 that the Task Force on Peace, Unity, and
Purity had commended to the whole church in Recommendation #5 of
their report; and,
- Whereas, this Authoritative Interpretation now permits an
ordaining and/or installing body of the church – i.e., a
Session or presbytery – to determine "reasonably," in
a particular case and by a majority vote of its members, that a
candidate's departure from the ordination/installation standard
expressed in G-6.0106b is a departure in "non-essentials"
and therefore no obstacle to sustaining his or her examination; and,
- Whereas, the Preface of the Book of Order makes clear
that terms such as "SHALL and IS TO BE/ARE TO BE signify
practice that is mandated;" and,
- Whereas, the ordination/installation standard in G-6.0106b is
expressed in such terms, clearly signifying practice that is
mandated for all ordaining/installing bodies of the church and that
cannot be regarded by any such body as "non-essential,"
any and all other evidence of a candidate's fitness for office to
the contrary notwithstanding; and,
- Whereas, for an ordaining/installing body thus to act in
accordance with the Authoritative Interpretation approved by the
General Assembly puts at peril all other express provisions of the
Book of Order that signify practice that is mandated, and
threatens the constitutional order and confidence that unites the
whole denomination;
- THEREFORE, be it RESOLVED that the Presbytery of Santa Fe, acting
this _____ day of ______________, 2006, makes the following public
declaration, adopts it as policy in its own ordination/installation
decisions, and commends it to all the Sessions within its bounds:
- In its discernment of the essentials of Reformed polity and
for the sake of the peace, unity, and purity of the church, this
governing body adopts the principle that compliance with the
standards for ordination set out explicitly for the whole church in
the Book of Order is an essential of Reformed polity.
Therefore, any departure from the standards for ordination expressed
in the Book of Order will bar a candidate from ordination
and/or installation by this governing body. Provisions of the Book
of Order are signified as being standards by use of the term "shall,"
"is/are to be," "requirement," or equivalent
expression.
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