Special GA is sought on constitutional issues Organizer says nearly 50 percent of commissioners needed to concur have signed up for historic meeting By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, October 9, 2002 One of the commissioners to the 214th General Assembly has begun a campaign for a historic, called meeting of the assembly to deal with what he believes is a constitutional crisis in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyweb announced Tuesday. The Book of Order says the moderator, Fahed Abu-Akel, "shall" call a special meeting of the General Assembly at the request or with the concurrence of at least 50 commissioners – 25 elders and 25 ministers. According to Presbyweb, which quoted Commissioner Alex Metherell of Laguna Beach, Calif., 12 ministers and 11 elder members – 46 percent of the number required – had signed up by Tuesday to request a meeting. Those commissioners represent 19 presbyteries and eight synods. Constitutional provision In G-13.0104, the Book of Order says, "The Moderator shall call a special meeting at the request or with the concurrence of twenty-five elders and twenty-five ministers, representing at least fifteen presbyteries, under the jurisdiction of at least five synods, all of whom have been commissioners to the last preceding stated meeting of the General Assembly." Metherell said he was elated by the early response. "I did not imagine in my wildest dreams that this would strike such a resonant chord," he told The Layman Online. A retired engineer-physician, Metherell said he began the campaign for a special meeting of the General Assembly by sending e-mail requests to 68 commissioners whose electronic addresses he had. In a few days, he said he will send letters by conventional mail to approximately 600 other commissioners. He was not seeking publicity for his effort, but neither was he leading a clandestine effort to secure enough signatures for a called meeting of the General Assembly. In Orlando recently at Gathering VII sponsored by the Presbyterian Coalition, Metherell asked to meet with any 214th General Assembly commissioners who were present. Moderator attends meeting He personally invited Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel to meet with that group, and the moderator did. " He was very very thoughtful," Metherell said. "He went away with a copy of the original e-mail." Shortly after Gathering VII, Abu-Akel left the United States for a trip to the Mideast and was not immediately available for comment. Metherell is independently spearheading the campaign. His wife, Pamela, is a director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, but the Lay Committee has not taken a position on having a special meeting of the General Assembly. It has, however, endorsed a statement titled "A Call for Constitutional Integrity." Two other renewal groups, the Coalition and Presbyterians For Renewal, have endorsed similar declarations. Responding to objections As word about the campaign for a special meeting got out Tuesday through Presbyweb and hundreds of e-mail exchanges, Metherell said he was busy responding to the objections from a few evangelicals who opposed the effort. Metherell told The Layman Online that the evangelical wing of the church is divided on the issue of whether to call for a special meeting of the General Assembly. Among the objections, some want to let the legislative process run its course and others prefer a change of heart by Presbyterians who are openly and aggressively defying the constitution. He said the legislative process has not worked and that some church sessions have been in defiance for years, even though ecclesiastical courts have told them to end their defiance. So far, since the General Assembly met in June, not a single judgment by a church court or presbytery has been in favor of those who call for compliance with the constitution. Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, the chief constitutional officer in the Presbyterian Church (USA), has repeatedly called for officers to honor their ordination vows and obey the constitution. But Kirkpatrick has preferred "pastoral" resolution rather than disciplinary action. Overture disapproved During its regular meeting in June, the 214th General Assembly disapproved an overture from the Presbytery of Shenango that would made the commissioners responsible for enforcing the constitution – which they ultimately are, anyway. For those who want to wait for a change of heart, Metherell cited the way Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower (Little Rock, Ark.) and John F. Kennedy (Alabama) responded to defiant governors who tried to block the U.S. Supreme Court's desegregation orders. "That didn't change hearts," he said, "but it upheld the constitution." The October edition of The Layman said that more than 400 Presbyterians, whether through actions by their sessions or votes at Presbytery, had publicly proclaimed that they will not obey the denomination's "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard. An accompanying article detailed the status of numerous church remedial and disciplinary court cases that have been instigated by Presbyterians who believe that defying the constitution with impunity will destroy the very document that holds the denomination together.

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