KANSAS CITY — The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission will hear a complaint over whether the 214th General Assembly should be called back into session, but with only one defendant — Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel.
The trial is scheduled to begin March 17 in Kansas City. It's not clear whether, if the judicial commission were to rule against Abu-Akel, if there is still enough time to call the Assembly back into session before the next General Assembly — the 215th — opens for business in Denver May 24.
KANSAS CITY — Katie Morrison got a lot of people's attention when she told reporters that she's lesbian, that she lives in a committed relationship with a longtime partner, and that to her way of thinking, chastity is not at all the same thing as celibacy. But Morrison, who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in California in October 2001, told Redwoods Presbytery, when it was considering her ordination that fall, that she could comply with the requirement in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution that those being ordained practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
KANSAS CITY ‑- The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission is supposed
to decide by March 3 whether to move ahead with a complaint regarding the refusal of
top Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders to call last year's General Assembly back into
session.
DALLAS - Mark Achtemeier, a theology professor from Iowa, talked
about the dangers of "cut-and-paste" biblical interpretation - taking what
you like, tossing out the rest.
DALLAS – The elephant finally ambled into the room at the fifth meeting of
the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of thePresbyterian Church (U.S.A.). But it hasn't kicked anybody yet.
Emile H. Dieth Jr., president of the Montreat Conference Center since 1998, resigned Tuesday, Feb. 18, according to a Montreat news release.
In a message addressed to his staff and board colleagues, Dieth wrote, in part, "I take pride in the many achievements and accomplishments which have been concluded during my administration."
It's the subject weighing on the heart and conscience of almost every American, the one pastors know is troubling people but about which they aren't sure what they should do. Should the United States attack Iraq? And, facing that prospect, what is the Christian response?
At some Presbyterian churches, members pass out "Peace is Patriotic!" signs and gather in candlelight vigils for peace, along with sympathetic new friends who may be Quaker or Muslim or Catholic or of no faith tradition at all.
General Assembly Moderator Fahed-Abu Akel, says he won't call the 214th Assembly back into session, but a challenge pending in the church courts could bring a different result.
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the denomination's highest court, is scheduled to meet Feb. 28 in Kansas City. During that session it may consider a remedial case filed against Abu-Akel and others involved in the decision to not recall the Assembly.
The denominational battle over ordination standards came to Rockville church, Rockville, Md., when the church's Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC) decided to call Alice Anderson as pastor.
On Wednesday, Jan. 29, National Capital Presbytery's Committee on Ministry (COM) said it could not confirm Anderson's call because of a "significant" minority opposition within the 241-member congregation to calling the openly lesbian minister.
SAN ANTONIO — Louis H. Zbinden Jr., 66, senior minister of 3,066-member First church, San Antonio, since 1971 and a leading figure among conservative evangelical Presbyterians, has announced to his congregation that he will retire effective June 1, 2003. His last Sunday in the pulpit will be May 25.
Zbinden told the session of the church about his retirement at its monthly meeting Monday night, Jan. 27. The church mailed a letter to the congregation that same day.
LOUISVILLE — Saying he wants the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to focus on mission and ministry, Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the denomination's 214th General Assembly, announced Monday morning that he will not call the Assembly back into session.
He told a news conference that 13 commissioners who signed a petition asking the Assembly to reconvene — six ministers and seven elders — indicated they wanted their names removed.
Dr. Alex Metherell, the elder from California who believes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in a constitutional crisis and who is trying to bring the 214th General Assembly back into session to do something about it, has said that he intends to file a lawsuit in the secular courts if the Assembly is not reconvened.
An Open Letter to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
A recent statement declaring intent to take the Moderator of the General Assembly to civil court for impeding progress toward a called meeting of the commissioners to the 214th (last year's) General Assembly is deplorable. It constitutes not merely a threat but a defamation of character. Fahed Abu-Akel was not only elected by the church but shaped by life history to be a voice of reason, tolerance and forbearance. That any Moderator would be so treated is unthinkable.
Delivered by hand.
The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, Moderator
214th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)
100 Witherspoon Street, Room 4631
Louisville, KY 40202-1396
Dear Mr. Moderator:
Because I am disheartened at the disappointing responses from you and from the Stated Clerk to my delivery to you in Louisville on January 14th of the written requests of more than the minimum number of commissioners for you to reconvene the 214th General Assembly into special session, I am taking the liberty of writing you one last time to outline my position, and in the hope of avoiding litigation in the secular courts.
Attorney Paul Rolf Jensen -- on behalf of the session of Westminster church, Canton, Ohio -- has filed a remedial case against PC(USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick , 214th General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly before the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission.
LOUISVILLE - Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which met last summer in Columbus, Ohio, still has not issued a call for that Assembly to come back into session.
Alex Metherell, a physician and elder from California, on Jan. 14 presented Abu-Akel with 57 signatures from commissioners asking that the Assembly reconvene to address issues of defiance of the denomination's constitution, apparently enough signatures under the rules to make that happen.
LOUISVILLE - Concerned that donors might be unhappy and programs could be hurt, the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) postponed action on a recommendation that it begin recovering administrative costs from money that Presbyterians give to the denomination as restricted funds for particular causes.
LOUISVILLE - While the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is faced with a slush pile of internal troubles, concerns about international peace also have permeated the winter meeting of the General Assembly Council here, a reflection of the somber mood of a nation in which the president threatens war and soldiers are being mobilized.
LOUISVILLE — In a letter 214th General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel is sending to the 57 commissioners who signed a petition asking that the Assembly be called into special session, the moderator asks that they reconsider their decision.
The five-paragraph letter composed on Jan. 14 ends as follows:
"I implore you in the name of Christ and for the good of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to reconsider your decision."
LOUISVILLE — The first quarter’s lessons of the PC(USA)’s latest curriculum offering, "We Believe," are ready for sale, publisher Sandra Moak Sorem said Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The material, designed for use in fall 2003, was prepared at an estimated cost of $270,000, but it was the quickness in which it was prepared that elicited comments during the Congregational Ministries Publishing Committee meeting at the Presbyterian Center.
LOUISVILLE – When Alex Metherell dropped his paper bombshell on Jan. 14 – presenting the signatures needed to call the 2002 General Assembly back into session – that raised a pile of logistical questions.
When would the Assembly meet? The 2003 General Assembly is scheduled to convene in Denver on May 24. If commissioners from the 2002 Assembly must be given a 120-day advance notice, as the Office of the General Assembly contends, that puts the starting date for their recalled Assembly at mid-to-late May.
LOUISVILLE – The budget numbers rolled through the room, like first rumblings of not-so-distant thunder signaling a deluge on the way.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a projected deficit of $1.53 million in the 2003 budget – meaning more changes need to be made to balance the budget for this year, despite having already cut 66 jobs from the denomination's national staff last spring. No additional layoffs are anticipated to balance the budget for 2003.
LOUISVILLE – For the first time ever, a General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is being called back into session.
Alex Metherell, a silver-haired elder and physician from Laguna Beach, Calif., who unswervingly led a drive to call the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) back into session to deal with constitutional defiance, now says he has enough signatures to do so, and he formally presented a list of 57 names on Tuesday to Fahed Abu-Akel, the moderator of the 214th Assembly.
For commissioners to the 214th General Assembly, supporting the Mission Initiative, the PC (USA)'s plan to raise $40 million over the next five years for evangelism in other countries and for domestic new church development, was sort of like offering cocoa to children with fingers like icicles on a cold night. They voted 97 percent in favor of it and pulled dollars from their own pockets to jump-start the campaign. In a denomination that badly needs something to cheer for, who could say no?
Robert "Bob" Davis, 39, executive director of the renewal organization Presbyterian Forum, announced Monday, Jan. 5, that he is seeking election as the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the 216th General Assembly (2004) in Richmond, Va.
Davis said, "It is time for a new direction in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We need to be intentional about our responsibility as a faithful part of the Church historic in a dynamic world," he said in an e-mailed press release.
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