Reflections on Assembly action on PUP report and on the Heartland Overture with which the Presbytery of Southern New England concurred.

There is obviously much confusion about the meaning and impact of Assembly action in regard to ordination. I have seen a half a dozen different news reports, some of which see the Assembly as a great victory for Gays and Lesbians, while others understand it as a defeat.

The goal of the Heartland Overture was to remove from the Constitution one offensive paragraph which states that the qualifications for Ministers, Elders and Deacons include Chastity in Singleness or Fidelity within a marriage relationship between a man and a woman. It also called for rescinding an Authoritative Interpretation dating back to 1978 which states that homosexuals should not be ordained. This was defeated, so there was no clear victory for GLBT people, and will not be full justice and equality in our church until these two provisions are defeated.

However, the passage of recommendation 5 of the Peace, Unity and Purity (PUP) report earlier in the Assembly does give sessions greater flexibility in examining newly elected elders and deacons, and Presbyteries in examining candidates for the ministry. The text of the recommendation is below. The key paragraph is c. (2) where it says that it is up to the ordaining body to determine whether a person’s departure from the standards for ordination constitutes failure to adhere to the essentials of reformed faith and polity. The mischief is in the following paragraph which originally said that the process of examining was subject to review, after the committee made some changes and then this paragraph was amended on the floor it now states that both the process and results of the examination may be reviewed by higher Church courts. I was the only person who spoke against this change on the floor of the Assembly (my one speech during the whole Assembly). No one else spoke up. The leadership of the progressive organizations were committed to getting this section passed as the best that could be achieved in this particular Assembly. While they do not think the change makes much difference, others agree with me that this may be an invitation to litigation in Church courts, which is exactly what the last paragraph of this recommendation asks governing bodies not to do, but instead to honor the decisions of the ordaining bodies.

Progressive forces will be back demanding justice when the next Assembly convenes in 2008 in San Jose, CA. I expect to be back as the Commissioner from the Presbytery of Southern New England.

Here is the text of the key recommendation as amended and approved:
5. The Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church recommends that the 217th General Assembly (2006) approve the following authoritative interpretation of section G-6.0108 of the Book of Order:
a. The Book of Confessions and the Form of Government of the Book of Order set forth the scriptural and constitutional standards for ordination and installation.
b. These standards are determined by the whole church, after the careful study of Scripture and theology, solely by the constitutional process of approval by the General Assembly with the approval of the presbyteries. These standards may be interpreted by the General Assembly and its Permanent Judicial Commission.

c. Ordaining and installing bodies, acting as corporate expressions of the church, have the responsibility to determine their membership by applying these standards to those elected to office. These determinations include:

(1) Whether a candidate being examined for ordination and/or installation as elder, deacon, or minister of Word and Sacrament has departed from scriptural and constitutional standards for fitness for office,

(2) Whether any departure constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity under G-6.0108 of the Book of Order, thus barring the candidate from ordination and/or installation.

d. Whether the examination [assembly amendment: and ordination and installation decision] comply with the constitution of the PCUSA, and whether the ordaining/installing body has conducted its examination reasonably, responsibly, prayerfully, and deliberately in deciding to ordain a candidate for church office is subject to review by higher governing bodies.

e. All parties should endeavor to outdo one another in honoring one another’s decisions, according the presumption of wisdom to ordaining/installing bodies in examining candidates and to the General Assembly, with presbyteries’ approval, in setting standards.