PASADENA, Calif. -- Peter Gomes, a best-selling author and Harvard College professor, spoke recently to Presbyterians pushing for change -- those who want to see the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) permit the ordination of sexually-active gays and lesbians -- on the theme of "Paradise Postponed," and the question of what they should do while they are waiting.
PASADENA, Calif. -- Jack Rogers, moderator of the 213th General Assembly, blasted the Lay Committee for being a "militant fundamentalist group" that is trying to impose on the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a narrow set of doctrinal standards and to interpret the Bible with "a kind of surface literalism."
Ed Hart, pastor of First church, Napa, Calif., is one of the ministers who has formally challenged the ordination of Katie Morrison, a lesbian who was ordained in San Anselmo, Calif., on Oct. 21 despite opposition from some in Redwoods Presbytery.
It's sort of like the mom trying to clean up the kids while they're still playing in the mud pile -- a task force created to study theological issues and lead the church in spiritual discernment, just getting started at a time when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is talking openly about a possible split and preparing to vote on the divisive issue of ordaining gays and lesbians.
Charity Forbes suspects that, because she's 28, she gets away with some things, such as wearing jeans to the office or toe rings, that might be challenged if she were an older pastor. But she's also living out firsthand some of the difficulties of being a young, single minister in a denomination that's aging -- and in a culture where many of her peers don't view the ministry as a desirable or compelling line of work.
The congregation of Richmond (Va.) Third church celebrated on Oct. 14 the remodeling of their sanctuary, just a little emore than a year since the sanctuary ceiling fell.
The current moderator and two most recent past moderators of the General Assembly have selected the following 21 persons to serve on the Theological Task Force requested by the 213th General Assembly. Gary Demarest and Jean S. Stoner will serve as co-moderators.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Presbyterian Coalition is plowing at least $300,000 into its campaign to defeat Amendment A, a controversial proposal that would open the door to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians.
In separate cases on opposite coasts of the country, presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are examining gay candidates for the ministry, assessing their suitability for ordination.
ORLANDO -- More than 1,150 evangelical Presbyterians, meeting here at the Presbyterian Coalition's biggest gathering ever, made it clear Tuesday that they want to accomplish some kind of "new reformation" of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) --
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The General Assembly Council has affirmed and commended for churchwide use a paper, "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," written in answer to a request by the 213th General Assembly.
TEMPE, Ariz. - Members of the General Assembly Council are getting the word that Mary Holmes College, a two-year, historically African American school in Mississippi, is in big trouble and the problem is lack of money.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is testing the waters to see what kind of support there might be for embarking on a proposed $39.5 million fundraising campaign to pay for the denomination's mission work internationally and also new church development and redevelopment in the U.S.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Congregational Ministries Division Committee is recommending that the PC(USA) discontinue further development of the third year of the church's Covenant People curriculum.
TEMPE, Ariz. --The uncertainty facing the world in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon was reflected in the opening of the General Assembly Council's Executive Committee meeting here Wednesday morning.
With students less willing to pick up and move across the country in order to attend seminary, and with technology blasting innovation into everyday life, schools of theological education are learning some new digital tricks. And they are struggling with the question of how the human aspects of theological education
Presbyterian News Service
Robert McAfee Brown, 81, celebrated Presbyterian writer and educator, died on Sept. 4, in a nursing home near his summer house in Heath, Mass. Brown, whose health had deteriorated in recent years, suffered a broken hip in a fall about a month ago.
MONTREAT, N.C. -- Mary Elva Smith, the new director of the Women's Ministries Program Area of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said here recently that she'd like to see the denomination push for another global women's conference that she said will restore the validity of feminist theology in the church.
The magazine Monday Morning -- which for 66 years provided a place for Presbyterian pastors to shout out on matters in the church and the world -- is ceasing publication at the end of this year, for financial reasons.
Updated 3 p.m. EDT Aug. 16 to include additional information.
A curriculum produced "by Presbyterians for Presbyterians" is continuing to have financial problems -- in part because so few congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are using it -- so the denomination has decided to suspend development of the next phase of the curriculum to try to contain the losses.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- This is high-voltage worship many young people love: the kind where you clap your hands and stomp your feet, shouting over and over, "God will, God will, rock you!"
And this is what they expect when they go back home.
As July comes to a close, some of those who believe the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) made a big mistake in June, when the 213th General Assembly voted to recommend lifting a ban on ordaining those who are not married and not celibate, will gather in Denver to strategize about the future.
A few weeks ago, with the 213th General Assembly of the PC(USA) fast approaching, Bill Hawley knew what he had to do. He didn't think he'd survive the agony of another Assembly fractured over the question of ordaining gays and lesbians. His blood pressure was sky-high.
It would cost him his job, but it was time to come out of the closet.
MONTREAT, N.C. -- Rhashell Hunter stepped to the podium for the Thursday night communion service. Then she stepped out of it right to the center of the Anderson Auditorium stage, preaching away, with slides popping up on a screen behind her, a deliberately off-key duet with the pianist and interplay with a planted trio in the audience.
The Library of Congress and Montpelier, Va., are holding 250th birthday celebrations this year for James Madison, fourth President of the United States. Although not as well-known as more deistic celebrities Washington and Jefferson, the Virginian deserves attention as the chief architect of the Constitution and Bill of Rights of the new United States of America. 
Readers ought to take note of this occasion because of Madison's Presbyterian connections as pointed out in G. W. Sheldon's recent brief but suggestive book, The Political Philosophy of James Madison (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins, 2001).
Although short physically, Madison stood tall intellectually with a lifelong appetite for knowledge and wisdom. He was nurtured by his Anglican family and Presbyterian ministers Donald Robertson and John Witherspoon, Scottish Presbyterian transplants to the New World.
In 1763 at the age of 12, Madison began five years of study at Robertson's Virginia boarding school. His teacher introduced him to languages, the Bible, with a Calvinist twist probably from the Westminster Confession, Greek and Roman historians and philosophers, and more contemporary greats such as Locke and Montesquieu.
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