Stated clerk wants ordination issue postponed until 2001 By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, June 15, 2000 LONG BEACH, Calif. -- One of the first questions facing the 212th General Assembly is whether this year's commissioners will accept the 1999 General Assembly's recommendation to postpone until 2001 reconsideration of the denomination's "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard. Following the action of the 1999 commissioners, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has recommended that eight overtures that bear on the constitutional standard be referred to the 213th General Assembly, which will meet in Louisville in 2001. Louisville is the headquarters of the 2.5-million-member denomination. A large percentage of the 700-person staff in Louisville opposes the ordination standard and, in the past, worked for its defeat. On the morning of June 24, the opening day of the 2000 General Assembly, the Bills & Overtures Committee will consider the proposed referrals. The committee will make its recommendation to the first plenary session later that day. The full General Assembly has the final say on what to do with the eight overtures. It is not obligated to follow the recommendations of the 1999 General Assembly. And if Bills & Overtures approvals the referrals, the full General Assembly can put the overtures back on the docket. The proposed two-year hiatus from considering "fidelity/chastity" overtures has been called a "sabbatical" and a "moratorium." It was, in fact, an idea broached by a handful of people and blessed by the stated clerk. Last year, the hiatus became an official recommendation after the General Assembly rejected an overture that called for a national referendum to strike G-6.0106b (the fidelity/chastity clause) from the Book of Order. The commissioners also suggested that Presbyterians take stock of their "unity in diversity" -- an idea that seemed to gain support principally from groups and congregations that oppose the ordination standard. The eight overtures designated by Kirkpatrick for referral are: 00-6, Beaver-Butler, on appointing a task force to explore Book of Order changes that might be necessary to allow congregations that cannot comply with G-6.0106b to leave the PCUSA with their real property. 00-13, Northern New England, on striking G-6.0106b from the Book of Order. 00-40, Milwaukee, to guarantee people of "all … sexual orientations … full participation and access to representation in the decision-making of the church." 00-41, Milwaukee, "to declare that all persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are able to fulfill the requirements of church office." 00-42, Milwaukee, to establish "a special task force to move beyond the current impasse" -- a reference to the fact that a minority of church members wants the majority to eliminate the ordination standard. 00-43, Milwaukee, that if the General Assembly refers all overtures on G-6.0106b to the 2001 General Assembly, it should declare that no judicial action be allowed during the year. 00-46, Santa Fe, to provide an "exemption/waiver clause for governing bodies when, in good conscience, they cannot apply the requirements of G-6.0106b justly and equitably." 00-48, Hudson River, also a waiver from G-6.0106b for dissenting congregations and presbyteries.

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