In March, a 10-member task force was appointed to assess the need for collegiate ministry and Presbyterians’ current efforts to provide it. The task force includes campus chaplains and pastors from the University of Tulsa, University of Wisconsin and Westminster College and other congregational leaders who participate in local campus ministry. The Presbyterian News Service reported that due to scheduled meeting times, no college students are on the task force.
The task force will consult with other denominations to examine active college ministries. There is only one dedicated staff member in the Office of Collegiate Ministry. In comparison, the ELCA Lutheran Campus Ministry in Chicago has a four–member staff.
The group’s members will follow a “read, pray, discuss” model and have covenanted to a reading list and prayerful discussion before meeting face-to-face in July in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where they will also help with tornado cleanup.
Special Committee on Existing Authoritative Interpretations: This group, which held its first meeting in January, will examine how existing authoritative interpretations match up with the existing and new Forms of Government to which they apply. Each existing authoritative interpretation will be classed as applicable, inapplicable or possibly applicable to the language of the nFOG. The committee’s recommendations will guide decisions on existing authoritative interpretations.
For example, if existing constitutional language closely resembles corresponding language in the nFOG, existing authoritative interpretations would stand. If nFOG language differs significantly, clarification from GA will be sought. Authoritative interpretations would be removed if the language clearly conflicts, or if they pertain to parts of the constitution that have been dropped.
Before summer’s end, the special committee will make recommendations to the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, which will then develop proposals to the 2012 General Assembly.
Same-gender benefits from the Board of Pensions: A nine-member special committee will make recommendations to the Board of Pensions (BOP) regarding the extension of all plan benefits to same-gender partners of church employees who receive BOP coverage.
In May, the BOP held hearings in Philadelphia and Los Angeles during regional benefits consultations. Typically, representatives of middle governing bodies attend these meetings, but others were invited to attend, depending on available space.
At each meeting, three hours were set aside for open hearings. Generally, comments dealt with how the plan reflected inclusivity and justice, the separation of an employer’s responsibility and moral discernment, and confusion over relief of conscience.
Concerns expressed included:
» How will domestic partnerships be defined?
» What might this express about the church’s understanding of the institution of marriage?
» How might rising cost affect the plan’s viability? (Dues could increase to 32.5 percent of effective salary, a 1 percent increase.)
» How will the place of relief of conscience be clarified and communicated to congregations?
The committee does not anticipate any formal board actions before March 2012. Any changes in dues would not take place until January 2013. The board will report to the 2012 GA.
Holding meetings in states with specific immigration laws: Does a state have a law that might subject immigrant Presbyterians to harassment or racial profiling during travel? If so, decisions made at the 2010 GA mean that another meeting location must be chosen. In response to Arizona’s law calling on law officers to check for immigration documentation when they have “reasonable suspicion” of illegal status, the 2010 GA voted to “refrain from holding national meetings in states where travel by immigrant Presbyterians or Presbyterians of color might subject them to harassment or racial profiling.”
According to General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, the recent decision to proceed with the scheduled Big Tent event in Indianapolis hinged on the understanding that Indiana’s bill did not promote what he designated an “extreme measure of racial profiling.” (On May 10, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law an immigration bill with less radical anti-immigrant provisions than those in a separate bill considered earlier by the Indiana legislature.)
In January, Parsons and GA Mission Council Executive Director Linda Valentine expressed concern that more than 100 meetings held annually at the denomination’s home office in Louisville would have to be moved to other states if a proposed state immigration law should pass.
The Kentucky bill did not advance, but a law with anti-immigrant restrictions even more severe than Arizona’s was signed into law June 9 in Alabama. Similar legislation is being considered in Oklahoma and Texas.
