Overtures seek cooling off period, tougher rules on amendments
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, Posted Wednesday, April 10, 2002
The 3-1 defeat of the proposal to delete the “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard from the Book of Order is not the last word on the issue.
Presbyteries have sent nine overtures that bear on human sexuality to the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which will meet June 15-22 in Columbus, Ohio. None of the overtures seeks to repeal the “fidelity/chastity” clause.
The overtures already on the agenda range from proposals that would make amending the Book of Order more difficult to calling for nonenforcement of G-6.106b, the “fidelity/chastity” clause.
Only two of the nine overtures are from presbyteries that voted in favor of Amendment 01-A.
The Presbytery of Northern New England, which voted 75-40 for Amendment 01-A, wants a grace period until 2005 to 1) delay enforcing the constitution and 2) to defer considering new proposals for changing the ordination standards.
The 2005 date was chosen because that is when the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity is scheduled to make its final report to the General Assembly. The 213th General Assembly instructed the task force to address Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards and power.
However, both Moderator Jack B. Rogers and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, aware that Amendment 01-A was being defeated overwhelmingly, urged the task force not to focus on human sexuality.
The Presbytery of Hudson River, which voted 103-28 in favor of Amendment A, wants the Office of the General Assembly to study the costs and consequences of G-6.0106b litigation. Of particular interest to the presbytery is whether Presbyterians who instigate cases to enforce the constitution are from congregations that withhold their per-capita apportionments.
The overture also asks the stated clerk to find out how much financial support affinity groups have given to enforce the constitution.
“Our basis for concern is the clear mid-1990s understanding that almost $1,000,000 of per capita was withheld by congregations favoring limits on the ordination of homosexual persons, while those faithfully paying their per capita effectively paid for the litigation measures used against them,” the overture said. “We believe there is a basic issue of fairness here and that the church needs to be clear about the impacts of our internal divisions on our witness to Jesus Christ.”
Three overtures would make it more difficult to call for national referendums on controversial proposals.
The Presbytery of the Mission in Texas (235-164 against Amendment 01-A) wants a constitutional amendment that would require a super-majority vote (two-thirds) at future general assemblies before commissioners could order a referendum on amending the Book of Order. Presbyteries would still approve Book of Order changes with a simple majority (over 50 percent). Super majorities are required for changes in The Book of Confessions.
The Presbytery of the Foothills in South Carolina (132-41 against 01A) wants two-thirds of the presbyteries to approve a constitutional amendment before it could be added to the Book of Order. “The Book of Order will become, in reality, a true constitutional document instead of functioning as a manual of operations,” the overture says.
The overture from the Presbytery of New Harmony in South Carolina, which rejected Amendment 01-A by voice vote, would require two-thirds approval of proposed amendments by both the General Assembly and the presbyteries.
The Presbytery of Olympia in Washington (110 to 32 against Amendment A) wants to end the annual fight over controversial issues by limiting consideration of constitutional amendments to every fifth year — years ending in “0” or “5.”
“The sexual issues facing our denomination have dominated the political and structural life of the Presbyterian Church (USA) when there are other very pressing issues facing the denomination,” the Olympia overture says. “The Presbyterian Church (USA) has annually lost tens of thousands of members and little or nothing is being done to try to stem the losses.”
The Presbytery of the Foothills also is calling for a five-year moratorium “regarding all overtures concerning human sexuality and ordination standards for a period of five years from the closing date of the 214th General Assembly (2002).”
“The repeated challenges to the 1978 authoritative interpretation and to the fidelity and chastity language of Chapter 6 of the Book of Order have distracted the church from its mission,” the Foothills overture says. “Our denomination has focused more on matters related to sexuality and ordination standards than we have on the Great Ends of the Church.”
St. Andrew Presbytery in Mississippi (86-11 against Amendment 01A) also wants a cooling-off period. It asks the General Assembly “to cease considering any overtures on issues involving human sexuality until the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church has submitted its report and recommendations to the 217th General Assembly (2005).”