Stated Clerk backs out of public meeting
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, December 19, 2001
LOUISVILLE, KY — A meeting between Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and a delegation from the Presbyterian Coalition was aborted Dec. 18 after Kirkpatrick learned that members of the press would be present. The Coalition had proposed the meeting to discuss the defiance of constitutional standards by some church sessions and presbyteries and the stated clerk’s apparent failure to preserve and defend the Constitution.
Kirkpatrick had agreed to meet the group in his office at 2 p.m., Dec. 18, but when he was informed that a reporter from The Layman would be in the room, he said that he would only meet the group behind closed doors. In a Saturday evening telephone call, the Rev. Jerry Andrews, co-chair of the Coalition, told Kirkpatrick that the delegation would not participate in any meeting that excluded the press. He then notified his colleagues to cancel their flights to Louisville.
Included in the Coalition-sponsored group were Peggy Hedden, chair of the Coalition’s discipline task force, who is an attorney from Columbus, Ohio; Paul Leggett, minister of Grace Presbyterian Church in Montclair, New Jersey; James Tony, minister of Community Presbyterian Church in Palos Park, Illinois; Clark Cowden, executive of San Joaquin Presbytery; Derek Simmons, an attorney from Redwoods Presbytery; and Andrews, minister of First Presbyterian Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois.
Defiance of the Constitution
During his call to set up the meeting, Andrews informed Kirkpatrick that the delegation wished to learn how Kirkpatrick understands his constitutional duty and to share a growing concern that the stated clerk is not honoring that obligation. According to the Manual of the General Assembly, Kirkpatrick is obliged to “preserve and defend the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).” Andrews told Kirkpatrick of the group’s concern that continued violations of the Constitution will severely damage denominational integrity. “If the Constitution does not hold, the church will not hold,” said Andrews.
‘What’s the use?’
Leggett told The Layman that he had looked forward to the meeting because he wanted Kirkpatrick to know what is happening among congregations in the Synod of the Northeast. He said he can name 35 congregations in his area that are ready to leave the denomination.
“I am encouraging them to stay and help us win this battle for the Constitution,” Leggett said, “and I show them the vote on Amendment 01-A,” which is being crushed 7-36 in early returns. “But they say, ‘What’s the use? Even if those standards stay in the Constitution, our presbyteries are openly defying it, and the stated clerk doesn’t lift his finger to defend it.'”
Leggett says people are understandably discouraged by the fact that liberal churches are thumbing their nose at the denomination’s ordination standards. He pointed to the fact that 14 churches in Hudson River Presbytery have said publicly that they won’t obey the Book of Order. That defiance has led the Circleville, N.Y. congregation to ask Hudson River Presbytery to dismiss it with its property to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Rampant relativism
“This is serious,” Leggett said, “and I want the stated clerk to understand what is at stake if the Constitution is not enforced.”
Leggett says he was appalled when, at the 2001 General Assembly, commissioners admitted in public testimony that they were in open rebellion to the church’s moral standards.
“Why did Kirkpatrick let them get away with that?” he asked. “If someone says something impolite or discourteous, they are ruled out of order. But let someone defy the Constitution, and not one word is said.”
Leggett reflects a growing concern among Presbyterians that their denominational officials appear to care more about manners than the core values of the church.
Derek Simmons echoes Leggett’s complaint. In a letter to the Layman Online, Simmons has written, “Only our Louisville leadership can give each of us the hope that they are about the business of faithfully performing their duties to protect and defend our Constitution, and immediately so. Only the Louisville leadership can stop the spread of the anarchy they know to exist in Hudson River and Redwoods, a disease they are fostering by their benignly-motivated neglect.”
Polity Reflection #19
The delegation’s complaint is not only that Kirkpatrick’s office has passively allowed the defiance of constitutional standards, but that it has actually encouraged it. They point to “Polity Reflection # 19,” a constitutional interpretation distributed by the stated clerk’s office. With phrases reminiscent of former President Bill Clinton’s testimony during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Polity Reflection #19 says the words “chastity” and “repent” that appear in the denomination’s ordination standards have no universally-approved meaning, so it is up to each governing body to define them.
Hedden has told her Coalition colleagues that she finds Polity Reflection #19 troubling. She believes that if the Constitution is allowed to mean whatever various governing bodies say it means, then, in effect, the denomination no longer has a Constitution. Members of the Coalition’s discipline task force, which she chairs, say that if Polity Reflection #19 is allowed to stand, the pending defeat of Amendment 01-A will have little meaning, for the stated clerk’s interpretation invites precisely the local autonomy that this amendment was intended to accomplish.
Undermining the Constitution
In two cases that have received nationwide publicity, definitions have played a central role. Wayne Osborne, a homosexual male who says he is in a “committed partnership,” sought installation as an elder in his Stamford, Conn. church, declaring that he was “chaste in the eyes of God.” He refused to affirm or deny that his relationship with his partner included sexual activity. Osborne’s supporters argued that he was not in violation of the denomination’s chastity standard, according to the way he defined chastity.
In California, Kathleen Morrison was ordained and installed by Redwoods Presbytery, despite the fact that she told The San Francisco Chronicle she is a lesbian who enjoys a sexually-active relationship. Like Osborne, she also declared that she is “chaste,” according to her definition of the word.
Enabling advice
The Coalition delegation is aware that these cases of disobedience bear closely on the stated clerk’s advice to the church. Here are the key phrases from Polity Reflection #19: “Are words like ‘chastity,’ ‘repent,’ or ‘self-acknowledged’ clear enough concepts for the church to apply G-G6.0106 fairly and consistently? The words are not defined. Examining bodies will need to consider reasonable definitions and decide which to apply.”
Kirkpatrick’s apparent failure to preserve and defend the Constitution and opinions from his office that have been used to undermine it were to have been on the table for discussion on Dec. 18. Because the stated clerk holds a public office that is accountable to the entire Presbyterian Church (USA), Coalition representatives believed it imperative that he discuss these matters publicly. But, for now, that door has been closed, and questions regarding Kirkpatrick’s performance in office remain unanswered.
The Layman Online made three attempts over two days to reach the stated clerk for comment on the issues raised in this article. None of the calls was returned.