G.A. committee maintains status quo on per capita
By Jack Volkers, The Layman Online, June 18, 2002
214th General Assembly
Columbus, Ohio
June 15-22, 2002In a long and difficult struggle that spanned two days, the Committee on General Assembly Procedures finally reached a consensus to answer an overture from the Presbytery of San Joaquin with a resolution emphasizing the necessity and responsibility of per-capita apportionment, but declining to add further new law.
The San Joaquin overture (02-15) was intended to relieve presbyteries of the obligation to make up per-capita payments that sessions do not transmit to the presbyteries. The resolution the committee approved (42-1-1) was offered as a compromise Tuesday morning after the committee spent nearly three hours Monday evening mired in the muck of a parliamentary quagmire.
The debate made evident a close division of the committee on the issue of whether payment of per capita should be mandatory for sessions and presbyteries, or voluntary for sessions and relieving presbyteries from paying for sessions that don’t.
Having worn most of the commissioners to the point of exhaustion, the moderator, Jim Thurman, declared a recess until Tuesday morning rather than allow the question to be called on a crucial vote. Although commissioners on both sides of the issue felt the recess a poor call, the rest and time for meditation allowed for a better spirit of cooperation in the morning, which began with the Rev. Lisa Johnson of San Diego Presbytery offering a draft of the eventual resolution as a substitute to the motion on the floor. It quickly became obvious that both sides could get behind the resolution and, after several friendly amendments to smooth the language, the committee’s members and the gallery applauded after the vote was taken.
The final outcome is a resolution that:
1) Reminds sessions of the connectional nature of the church and the necessity of receiving funds for its operation.
2) Encourages presbyteries to work pastorally with both those sessions that are financially challenged and those that withhold per capita on grounds of conscience.
3) Makes it incumbent upon General Assembly entities to address the problems that are the basis for such responses of conscience.
There was evidence of some significant pressuring and inappropriate action by staff members, enabled by the moderator’s desire to seek the advice of resource persons. There were at least four staff allowed to give opinions, including two associate stated clerks from the office of the General Assembly.
Mary Ann Wolf, who was the Advisory Committee on the Constitution resource person, advocated the use of language that the ACC had proposed that would have made the per-capita absolutely mandatory for both sessions and presbyteries. She also gave an opinion that the present interpretation of the Book of Order supports this position, so that it would not be new law, only definition.
Associate Stated Clerk Mark Tammen reiterated his published opinion to the same view. The GA PJC in the past has held that the session has the autonomous authority to direct the funds of a church and, therefore, cannot be compelled to pay the per capita.
Associate Stated Clerk Gary Torrens began his response to a question regarding the present situation on per capita by directly advocating the action then on the floor (“I favor this amendment before you . . .). Resource persons are not for advice on actions, but for help in the process.
Having been asked to advise the committee about financial implications, a fourth staff member ignored the question and began advocating for a mandatory per capita. The moderator declared his comments out of order and removed him from the podium. The moderator later granted time for rebuttal from the San Joaquin Overture Advocate, elder Joe Wilson.