Deadline nears as policy paper is still undergoing revisions
By Paula R. Kincaid and John H. Adams, The Layman Online, Posted Tuesday, February 17, 2004
The framers of a proposed social policy on families for the Presbyterian Church (USA) are still revising the controversial document as they inch closer to the Feb. 27 deadline for submitting the statement to the 216th General Assembly.
The Congregational Ministries Division Committee of the General Assembly Council got a glimpse of the progress – or lack of progress – during the council’s meeting last week when Joe Small and Charles Wiley of the Office of Theology and Worship made their report.
“The Council of Nicaea worked more efficiently than this,” Small, director of the denomination’s Office of Theology and Worship, told the GAC committee.
Small’s office was mustered by the 215th General Assembly to prepare the theological narrative for the families paper. The brunt of that task fell to Wiley, but many of Wiley’s contributions were edited out of the document when it was reviewed on Jan. 21-23 by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP).
Wiley noted that the draft before the GAC committee wasn’t the final product. Furthermore, he said, “the current draft is not ‘circulatable’ because ACSWP hasn’t approved it yet.”
But Wiley could report the paper’s title: “Transforming Families.” The first edition of the paper went to the 215th General Assembly as “Families in Transition.” It intentionally avoided any moral or theological tone that would disparage same-sex couples, cohabitation or unwed mothers.
Wiley said the new title has a double meaning – “the church transforms families and families transform society.”
The contentions among the ACSWP statement swirl around the same issues that are part of the growing national debate over marriage and family – and where homosexual couples fit in.
A majority of the advisory committee wants the paper to use open-ended language that would enable readers with reasons to argue that the policy supports same-sex couples and co-habitation as an acceptable model for families. But other members of the committee, including its chairman, Nile Harper, have contended that wouldn’t win the approval of the General Assembly.
The conflicts have resulted in an estimated 18 different drafts – and no word yet on whether the advisory committee will reach an agreement before the deadline.
The Layman Online tried unsuccessfully to contact Peter Sulyok, director of the advisory committee, by telephone today to find out where the paper stands and whether it will be ready in time.