Task force votes to close half of its 3-day meeting
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, March 2, 2005
DALLAS – To shield its members from being quoted by reporters, the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity voted unanimously this morning to go into executive session for half of its three-day meeting that continues through Friday evening.
That’s the most extensive use of the task force’s exemption from the denomination’s open-meetings requirements since the 215th General Assembly authorized the closed-door sessions in 2003.
While the task force’s vote excludes reporters from sitting in on private discussions about human sexuality and ordination standards – as well as other issues – the panel did vote to allow two staff members to attend the closed-door sessions: Grady Parsons and Sharon Young of the Office of the General Assembly staff. Normally, staff members do not attend executive committee sessions unless they are involved in personnel discussions.
Since the task force was established by the 213th General Assembly in 2001, many of its members have bristled over press coverage, contending that having reporters present made it difficult to conduct frank discussions about controversial issues.
And when some have been quoted in taking controversial positions, they have complained that they were quoted out of context.
Nonetheless, they had adopted a covenant that said in part, “We will work in good faith within the open-meeting policy of the General Assembly and welcome the press and observers at our meetings …”
After banning the “press and other observers” from half of this meeting, members of the task force stood and read the covenant again.
The 213th General Assembly established the task force to make recommendations on Christology, the authority and interpretation of Scripture, ordination standards and power. The only clear-cut statement by the task force has been on Christology, which was the substance of the group’s interim report to the 216th General Assembly last year.
That report, which was based on selected verses from the first three chapters of the letter to the Ephesians, declared that Jesus alone is the church’s peace, unity and purity. Furthermore, the report suggested that anyone who left the PCUSA over a purity standard – such as a change in PCUSA constitutional law that forbids the ordination of practicing homosexuals – would be in danger of being “severed from Christ.”
The last three chapters of Ephesians, which the task force did not quote, emphasize personal purity and obedience, calling for Christians to live in accordance with God’s commandments on sexuality and other matters.
During a brief discussion before voting for closed sessions beginning Thursday afternoon and continuing through Friday evening, no one suggested any reason for rejecting the recommendation.
But there were some reservations. Jack Haberer, pastor of Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas, asked for time at the end of Friday’s session for a verbal report to reporters. That was approved.
“There needs to be more opportunity for them to hear what we have shared,” Haberer said.
Mary Ellen Lawson of Redstone Presbytery in Pennsylvania objected to having a “press briefing” at the conclusion of the meeting. “If we’re not making a decision, I don’t know what we could say to the press that would not compromise our discussions,” she said.
There were also suggestions that the coverage should be limited to the task force’s own press release about its closed-door deliberations. The task force will do just that – as it has done so in the past – but the full panel decided by consensus to give the press a briefing Friday night.
Gary Demarest of Pasadena, Calif., sought to offer some reassurance to the press and some advice for the council. He said he and Jenny Stoner of Craftsbury, Vt., the co-moderators, would ensure that the closed discussions do not enter the decision-making stage. “The sole purpose is for sharing views,” Demarest said.
Mark Achtemeier, a member of the faculty at Dubuque Theological Seminary in Iowa, voted in favor of excluding the press from its discussions. “It grieves me that we need to do this,” he said.
No one on the task force defended the role of the press in conveying the essence of the theological discussions that could frame the final report.