Session cuts off GA funding following Women of Faith awards
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, June 20, 1999
NEW CASTLE, Pa. – Calling the Women of Faith awards “a slap in the face,” the session of Highland Presbyterian Church in New Castle, Pa., voted Sunday [June 20] to cut off all per capita and mission funds to the General Assembly.
The decision was made at a special meeting of the session, and Tim McQuade, pastor, notified The Presbyterian Layman by e-mail.
“We’re certain other sessions will follow our lead,” McQuade said. “The elders of Highland feel this award, intended to undermine the constitution of the Church, is a slap in their face. Highland had restored mission giving to GA last year. That trust has been clearly betrayed.”
McQuade said the “pastoral letter” was anything but pastoral. “The elders understood that letter to say, ‘We (GAC) know we made people angry with this award, tough, we’re not going to do anything about it!'”