Kirkpatrick endorsed for second term
By Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service, June 27, 2000
LONG BEACH, June 26 – The Candidate Review Committee voted unanimously last night to recommend the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick for a second term as stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The Rev. Allen Maruyama, one of the members of the original review committee, made the motion minutes after the now 18-member committee convened. The vote was taken by paper ballot.
Just after the meeting adjourned, committee chair the Rev. Bill Maloney of New Wilmington, Pa., told press that, as the group began its deliberations, it came to believe that both Kirkpatrick and his opponent, the Rev. Winfield “Casey” Jones of Pearland, Texas, were “fine individuals, men of good character. But the decision was ultimately made that Cliff Kirkpatrick had the qualifications … for a stated clerk.”
He described the committee’s work as “very fair,” saying the committee read material submitted by and interviewed both candidates and heard five speakers of the candidates’ choosing in support of this recommendation.
Even though the committee is recommending only Kirkpatrick, the 558 Assembly commissioners will vote on the two candidates at 9 a.m. Friday. The committee will also present commissioners with a paper summarizing both candidates’ views and qualifications.
Questions from commissioners
Earlier Monday, Jones and Kirkpatrick fielded questions of the committee for two hours. Commissioner George McCall, of Missouri Union Presbytery, pushed the two to define how each might preserve and defend the constitution and interpret the confessions to the church, the latter being an issue Jones has repeatedly raised in his campaign.
Jones was clear. “To defend the constitution and make everybody happy is probably not possible,” he said, referring first to a recent decision by the church’s highest ecclesiastical court that said Presbyterian ministers are not forbidden to perform same-sex unions because it is not prohibited by church polity. “But whether you agree or not, the confessions say same-sex sex is sin. If you don’t like that, then you should amend the constitution. And if I were the clerk, I would say, ‘This is the position of the church.'”
Kirkpatrick’s stance was a bit more nuanced. He said he would preserve and defend the constitution and “at all costs uphold its truths,” but he was careful to add that he thinks it important to communicate a “sense of good news on these matters,” instead of focusing just on the negative. The clerk, he said, needs to emphasize the great themes of the Reformed tradition and to cross the church proclaiming good news, while still making clear the limits.
On a more controversial note, the Rev. Herb Christ, of San Diego Presbytery, asked how the candidates might reply to a session that withheld funds in protest of a particular church policy or action.
Jones said his session opted to redirect its benevolences after last year’s Assembly honored a lesbian activist with a prominent award; it did not, he said, withhold per capita giving. He said it is sometimes an act of faithfulness to redirect monies when the church has lost its moorings. “It would have been a lot easier not to do this. But it is a matter of conscience for people. The truth is it keeps us more honest and narrows the gap between Louisville and congregations,” he said.
With some experience in these matters, Kirkpatrick said his protocol has been to write letters and to visit withholding congregations in hopes of finding some common ground. “I think the worst way in the world to change things,” he said, “is to engage in unconstitutional practices.”
Ecumenism
On the question of ecumenism, Kirkpatrick, calling himself a “hardcore ecumenist,” said there is a move to “find models that are out of the box,” differing from the bureaucratic structures set up in the 1960s. Full communion agreements, he said, will be more the norm.
Jones said local churches are working more broadly with Roman Catholic, Pentecostal and other traditions than national bodies.
In response to a question from Elder Nancy Harper of Ohio Valley Presbytery the candidates each stuck to their much-repeated preferences about how each might prioritize specific parts of the constitution. Kirkpatrick chose the first four chapters of The Book of Order, and Jones, The Book of Confessions, the first part of the constitution which he contends has been ignored.
The two drew finer distinctions in response to a question about whether they see themselves as dwelling on the church’s differences or emphasizing its commonalities. “I think we’re in a crisis,” Jones said, citing massive membership losses in the past 35 years. “And I have faith in God … but the God I have faith in is a God of repentance who calls us back to God’s word.
“There is such a thing as truth. [We Presbyterians] are gifted as knowing grey. Some things are black-and-white.”
Kirkpatrick didn’t deny problems emerging from a lack of spiritual grounding and from membership losses. But he also said that, from his vantage point, he sees a church where God is doing much, from worldwide missions to local congregations. “So my predilection,” he said, “is to focus on that the glass is half-full.” Both men defined themselves as people-people and conceptual thinkers, rather than polity technicians.