Council chair 'feeling good' about Women of Faith Award By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Online Saturday, June 19, 1999 FORT WORTH, TX – "The spirit was really with us," said Rev. Cathy Chisholm, Chair of the General Assembly Council (GAC), as she described the council's 41-40 vote confirming the Women of Faith Award to two lesbians and one homosexual rights activist. Known for flinging pink flamingo "Beanie Babies" to her council members in order to "keep things from getting too serious," Chisholm expressed relief that the controversial award left "everyone feeling good about what was done." She said the council "really modeled diversity." In-Your-Face Meeting three days before the opening of the 1999 General Assembly, the GAC was facing an avalanche of protests from across the Presbyterian Church (USA) in response to the selection of award winners, Jane Spahr, Letty Russell, and Jane Dempsey Douglass, by a cluster of activist women's groups inside the denomination's bureaucracy. The selection was vetoed by the National Ministries Division's steering committee, after a review had been requested by NMD executive Curtis Kearns, because it was seen as an in-your-face defiance of denominational policy regarding homosexual behavior. The Presbyterian Church (USA) declares homosexual behavior to be contrary to the teachings of Scripture, sinful, and it forbids the ordination of persons who openly practice such behavior. Ping-Pong politics In a 9-2 secret ballot vote, however, the GAC Executive Committee overturned the veto and declared that the awards could go forward. That led to a chorus of resolutions from church sessions and presbyteries. Pittsburgh Presbytery declared the action damaging to the peace, purity and unity of the church. Other presbyteries, including California's San Joaquin Presbytery, pointed to the action's defiance of Biblical and constitutional standards. An attempt to rescind Representing San Joaquin's General Council, GAC member Don Cobb moved that the GAC rescind the executive committee action. Several council members opposed Cobb's motion, saying that the council's procedures had been properly followed. Others countered, saying that incidents like this undermine the people's trust in their leaders. David Bleivik of Yukon Presbytery said that the whole focus on procedures misses the point. The issue, he said, is homosexual behavior. He said that Presbyterians across the country had spoken quite definitively on this subject in two constitutional referenda. He argued that this award, triggered by a small group within the national church infrastructure, was nothing more than "a successful ploy" to force the issue back in front of a church that has repeatedly decided it and wants to move on to mission and ministry. The Women of Faith Award ceremony will be conducted on Sunday morning, just prior to the General Assembly's communion service. |
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