by
Sylvia Dooling
Charlotte Johnstone, author of ‘Parker and the Question of Sin” in the
latest edition of _Horizons_ Magazine, has written to VOW to deny that there
is any connection between Parker Buckhouse and Parker Williamson. According
to Ms. Johnstone she ‘never heard of the gentleman’s name before writing
this latest Forbearance piece.”
Although it is genuinely difficult for me to understand how someone as
knowledgeable of our denomination as is Ms. Johnstone someone who keeps
current on G-6.0106b, who publishes regularly in _Horizons_ magazine, and
whose pastor is co-moderator of the Covenant network had never heard of Mr.
Williamson, I accept her word on the matter, withdraw my conclusion that she
is responsible for the regrettable association between the two Parkers, and
apologize for directing my comments at her personally.
However, my apology does not invalidate the point that I attempted to make
in my editorial that the choice of names was inappropriate.
At the very least, the editors of _Horizons_ cannot claim to be ignorant of
Mr. Williamson, or of the bitingly satirical associations that the fictional
character, Parker Buckhouse, would evoke in many minds. I believe that the
editorial staff could have saved both Ms. Johnstone and the friends of
Parker Williamson a whole lot of grief by talking to her about the potential
impact of the name of her fictional character. They might have asked her to
‘invent” another character to act as a foil for Miss Lily’s more
‘progressive” ideas. Further, before Ms. Johnstone elects to bring back the
character of Parker Buckhouse in the future as she says she may do I trust
that the editors of _Horizons_ will counsel carefully with her.
None of the foregoing, however, changes my opinion relative to the main
point I made in my editorial that _Horizons_ Magazine and Presbyterian Women
are responsible to uphold the constitution of our church. I still find it
fascinating, for example, that they would allow an article to be published
that so clearly advocates defiance of our church’s standards even though the
fine print on the magazine’s masthead says ‘opinions expressed by individual
authors are not necessarily those of the publisher.”
When one looks at the index at the front of the publication, ‘Dispatch from
Forbearance Presbyterian Church” is sited under _Horizons_ ‘Departments.”
This section includes ‘UN Matters” by Jennifer Butler (an employee of the
PC(USA)), ‘Washington Watch” by Elenora Giddings Ivory (an employee of the
PC(USA)), ‘Ask Jane” by Jane Parker Huber (an employee of the PC(USA)), and
‘CCT Connection: News from the Churchwide Coordinating Team.” This
placement clearly suggests that the message of the on-going saga of
Forbearance Presbyterian Church is endorsed by Presbyterian Women. In
addition, Ms. Johnstone and ‘Forbearance Presbyterian Church” were a part
of the 2000 PW Churchwide Gathering’s daily programming where they were used
to encourage women to purchase _Horizons_ Magazine.
It is, of course, PW’s prerogative to publish whatever they wish. Freedom of
the press, after all, belongs to those who own the press. But, in light of
the fact that Presbyterian Women is ‘housed in and staffed by WMPA in the
Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky,” (cf. ‘Blest Be the Ties That
Bind,” by Jane Parker Huber in the same edition of _Horizons_), when a
contributor to their magazine advocates defiance of the constitution, it
seems to me that the editors have an affirmative obligation to say clearly
that defiance is not the Presbyterian way.
Clearly, we all have the right to work energetically for change. But, we do
not have the right to defy. According to the Historical Principles of
Presbyterian Church Order, when a matter has been decided by majority vote,
Presbyterians have the right actively to concur, passively to submit, or
having modestly remonstrated, peaceably to withdraw. Defiance, however, is
not an option for responsible Presbyterians. It will lead only to anarchy,
chaos, and schism.