So what’s going on at General Assembly?
My loyal readers may be wondering why I haven’t posted much about General Assembly.
The truth is that the kerfluffle about my blog and my local congregation has consumed most of my blogging energy. I am following General Assembly, though this year it’s not with the thought of “I might get there someday” but rather “I’m never gonna get there”.
But I am following it.
So here’s what’s going on.
Sexuality and Ordination
The committees involved (the sexuality question kinda got split between two committees) passed resolutions recommending changes to the Book of Order or Authoritative Interpretations that would essentially allow two things:
- Scruples could be declared by an ordained officer at the time of examination. The examining body (and only that body) would be able to decide whether or not to accept that scruple. The word Scruple was not used. This was passed as an Authoritative Interpretation.
- To reword G-6.0106b, replacing the famous “marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” with: Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards. This would essentially allow gay ordination in presbyteries or congregations that allow it. This resolution also nullifies the 1978 and 1979 Authoritative Interpretations and any such later action that homosexuality is a bar to ordination. This resolution also requires the examining body to be sure that the person is willing to assent to the ordination vows before approving them.
The committee also turned down an overture that would redefine marriage as between two persons, rather than between a man and a woman. That committee turned back an attempt to solidify the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, instead commenting that this issue is still in question in our denomination.
Big stuff, eh? Remember that this is just the committee work – the whole General Assembly votes later.
The General Assembly as a whole passed a resolution to create a sexuality curriculum for youth, choosing NOT to state specifics about what must be included. This was passed after a lively debate that included a minister from KY (speaking against the curriculum) revealing on the floor of GA that his daughter has or had a sexually transmitted disease.
Christian/Jew/Muslim Relations
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Membership Vows
The committee passed a resolution calling for a Book of Order amendment that would require that members being received by a method other than Confirmation will also make a public profession of faith. This replaces the overture that I wrote about previously that would have required specific membership vows.
Form of Government (Book of Order) revision
The committee is recommending that the draft be referred to a new task force consisting of the original task force and members of the Assembly committee considering it. This group would consult with the presbyteries and bring back a revised recommendation to the next General Assembly. It’s not quite a punt or ignore, but rather a “still needs work” decision. This is just the committee decision – we’ll see what GA does but I suspect this will be what happens.
Confessions
The committee recommended that the Heidelberg Confession be amended to return it to a closer translation from the original German, correcting some license taken by the translators in the 1960’s. This has the effect of removing the wording against homosexuality from the confession, though others claim that the original intent of the passage in question was to mirror 1 Corinthians.
The committee also recommended that a team be created to study the inclusion of the Belhar Confession in the Book of Confessions – to report back at the next General Assembly.
Some little but important stuff
The GA passed a statement that the Catholic and Presbyterian baptism should be recognized by the other denomination, subject to each denomination’s rules. This means something to me, a Presbyterian married to a Catholic.
The GA passed full recognition and participation in Eucharist between the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church. We can now take Communion in the other church without question. This also allows for limited use of ministers from the other denomination and allows further talks on allow integration in the future.
The GA passed a Book of Order amendment that changes part of the definition of the office of deacon – substituting “compassion” for “sympathy”.
Catholics, Birth Control and Eucharist
Today’s votes by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops affecting birth control and Eucharist hit my family personally.
While I am Presbyterian (joining a new church tomorrow evening), my wife is a practicing Catholic. (What the heck is “practicing” about? I think after about 40 years she’d be good at it!) We have chosen not to have children. We are not using the rhythm method – my wife is an engineer and would never settle for a single point of failure. You are welcome to draw your own conclusions on what all that means with respect to birth control.
The bishops issued two documents today that are relevant:
- Married Love and the Gift of Life
- Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist
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The first document talks about marriage and the Roman Catholic church’s teachings. In reality, only the first page of the 12 page document talks about marriage – the rest talks about contraception, repeating Catholic doctrine stating that the Rhythm method is the only one allowed (though they call it “Natural Family Planning”) in any circumstance.
The second one talks about preparation for Holy Communion. Among other things it states that intentionally ignoring church teachings is sufficiently serious that the lay person should avoid Communion. It also repeats teaching about Confession, mortal sins, and the fact that Catholics should only take Communion in a Catholic or related Byzantine church. Also that non-Catholics should not take Communion.
Put the two together and you reach the conclusion (verified by Catholic priests in a newspaper article that I read) that any Catholic using contraception should not take Holy Communion. The newspaper article that I saw this morning cited a survey statistic that 96% of married Catholics used contraception. One activist in the Catholic church on sexual issues was quoted as saying “This should save them some money on wafers”, but I don’t expect much to change. I suspect that this new guideline on taking Communion will be ignored just as the teaching on contraception is ignored. After all, the church spokespriest was quoted as saying that priests will not be refusing anyone at the rail on this issue.
So what does that mean for us? For me – nothing. Nobody changed the rules that I live by today. For Carolyn …. well, I can’t speak for her. I assume that if you ignore the teaching about contraception, you might as well ignore this teaching as well – and I suspect that 95% of married Catholics will continue doing so.
What I do know is that the Presbyterian Church will always allow her to take Communion in one of our churches irrespective of what her church teaches about doing so. I also know that the Presbyterian Church will be happy to take her in should she get sufficiently frustrated by the differences between the Mother Church’s teachings and her beliefs. And I know (and she’s been told) that the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville always welcomes her.
It’s probably easier to live in a one-church household. We’ve done fine for all these years in a two-church household. We talk, and exercise freedom of conscience on religious issues. We support each other’s personal faith. We’re also generally on the same page on theological issues and issues of applying faith to life. That might not be the same page as the Roman Catholic church, but it’s OUR page.
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