Committee turns down overture on policy statements By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, June 23, 1999 FORT WORTH – An overture intended to make most recent General Assembly action authoritative for statements and policy positions developed by official Presbyterian Church (USA) bodies was rejected by the Assembly's Mission Coordination Committee. Overture 99-43 sought to bring to an end the cafeteria approach that is now used in papers and positions developed by PCUSA agencies. Opponents of the current process say officials, including the Washington office of the denomination, pick and choose from a compendium of General Assembly statements to make declarations that are often at odds with more current General Assembly policy. Ignoring GA's pro-life statement For example, said Terry Schlossberg, executive director of Presbyterians Pro-Life, the PCUSA's Washington Office often conducts a one-sided lobby for women to have unfettered choice in abortion, including partial birth abortions, while the most recent General Assembly position expresses grave concern about abortion. (The pro-abortion view on abortion was adopted by an earlier General Assembly when partial-birth abortion was not an issue.) And Richard "Dick" Brondyke of Quincy, Mass., said the cafeteria approach is at the root of many of the disagreements and rancor in the PCUSA. His example: "Since 1978, the General Assembly has consistently said that homosexuality is a sin" but PCUSA-produced curriculum "fails to meet the policy of the Church." Opponents of the change, intended to become an amendment to a document titled "Why and How Presbyterians Make Social Policy Witness," raised a variety of objections. Don Wilson, a retired minister in the Presbytery of New York City, said the amendment would spawn "political maneuvering." Janice Adams of the Presbytery of Cincinnati said there already is a policy statement that says essentially the same thing as the proposed amendment. And Bob Brasher said he worried that the proposed amendment would "wipe out the collective memory of the church." Outdated voters' guide But Alan Wisdom of Presbyterian Action said developing social witness policy has been a problem for years. He pointed out that the Washington Office of the PCUSA last year produced a national voters' guide that recommended a guaranteed national income – an outdated proposal gleaned from a statement by the 1970 General Assembly. And Patty June said the amendment would provide some much-needed guidelines for PCUSA staff at Louisville. "We're now allowing the Louisville staff to pick and choose from the policies," she said. "This should be done in decency and order, not depending on who sits in Louisville." The overture, from Missouri Union Presbytery, says the "current approach to social witness policy is not being consistently followed by boards and agencies of the church in developing materials and strategies for such witness." The overture also says "some boards and agencies of the Church, including the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, refer to past actions of the General Assembly, some of which have been superseded by the adoption of more recent policy statements of the General Assembly. Overture seeks 'grass roots' response in declarations – June 3, 1999, The Layman Online |
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