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PC(USA) asked to support help for minister’s sexual abuse victims

SACRAMENTO -- He was a Presbyterian minister. He was, for many boys from Chinese immigrant families, a sort of surrogate father figure. He was charismatic, he was powerful -- and he is said to have sexually abused dozens of young boys over 30 years at the Cameron House ministry program in San Francisco.

His name is Dick Wichman and he is now in his 90s, living in a retirement home in Oregon. In the late 1980s, faced with allegations of sexual abuse pending in San Francisco presbytery, Wichman denied the charges and renounced his ordination in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) rather than face the action the presbytery was preparing to bring against him.

But that has not stopped the survivors of the abuse from speaking out plainly of how the betrayal of trust perpetrated by one minister has fractured their self-esteem, their ability to form close, caring relationships as adults and in some cases has driven them far from the church and any sense of God's caring.

Voices

Heaven

Editor's note: The following homily was preached at the funeral of the Reverend George McMaster at Druid Hills Church in Atlanta, Ga., by Dr. Patrick D. Miller, Professor of Old Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. It contains great comfort for the church and is a welcome testimony to the gospel in these troubled, dangerous times.

Not long ago, when Mary Ann and I were visiting with her mother, she asked me what I thought about heaven. I was taken aback at the time because my mind was, as usual, on more mundane things. I don't recall what response I made at the time, except that it was not very helpful. But the question was a serious one from this 90-year-old woman whose husband had died some years before. It has stuck with me ever since and in these few minutes I would like to take it up again with a bit more reflection.

Heaven really has two connotations in Christian faith. One is spatial -- up there -- and one is temporal -- beyond death. In the first instance, heaven is a symbol for God's reality and God's rule. It is a pointer to transcendence, to the fact that what we mean by God is one who is above and beyond all that we are even if among us.

Heaven is a biblical and Christian way of speaking about the abode of God. Some of you are old enough to remember when the Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev scoffed at the notion of God and heaven when he noted that the Russian astronauts had not seen God or heaven when they went into space. His mockery reflects a widespread tendency to literalize the notion of heaven, when in fact it is a symbol and not a literal reality, at least as described in the Bible. As a symbol, however, it points to something real, but something we can only think of in images and pictures because it is beyond us, and we do not have direct experience of it.

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Session at Hollywood Pres. asks ministers to resign

The difficulties continue at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, a large and well-known California congregation that's been locked in recent months in a painful internal struggle.

On Sept. 29, the session of Hollywood church asked for the resignations of pastor Alan Meenan and associate pastor David Manock, and called for a congregational meeting to discuss the matter on October 9.

That followed months of controversy within the congregation. Last May, the Presbytery of the Pacific appointed an administrative commission to oversee the church and put Meenan and Manock on paid administrative leave.

Book Reviews

In the Ruins of the Church: Sustaining Faith in an Age of Diminished Christianity

In the Ruins of the Church: Sustaining Faith in an Age of Diminished Christianity, by R. R. Reno.  Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2002.  Pb., 208 pp.  ISBN 1-58743-033-9.  $15.99.

Editor's Note: This book review was written before the release of the recommendations from the PC(USA) Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.

 

The General Assembly of 2001 met in Louisville, Kentucky, home of the Presbyterian Center, our denomination's national offices. With the strong encouragement of national officers, the General Assembly authorized a Theological Task Force to deliberate and then to report on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Though appointing a committee to address an issue is ordinary and uneventful, indeed unimaginative and uninspiring; and though the constant comparisons to the Commission of 1925 were insulting to evangelicals; and though the appointments themselves were more than a little disappointing to evangelicals, and the commission given was at least a bit ambiguous, needing re-visitation by a later General Assembly; and though as the Task Force deliberated over the next four years, more and more of it was done secluded from the witness of the Church; as a commissioner to that General Assembly, I found one decision noteworthy - the General Assembly admitted we are a divided fellowship.

This was and is a difficult but, I believe, necessary admission. We are unhappy. This is not the common life for which Christ prayed and we hope. It hurts; we hurt. To recognize and attend to this is right.

Little else in the General Assembly actions was as right.

Book Reviews

The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine Love: A Biblical Case for Religious Diversity

The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine Love: A Biblical Case for Religious Diversity, by W. Eugene March.  Louisville: WJKP, 2005.  ISBN 0-664-22708-2.  Pb., 139 pp.  $14.95.

In his new book, The Wide, Wide Circle of Divine Love, W. Eugene March lays out a reasoned and compelling case for people of all faiths to communicate with and appreciate people of other faiths.  He traces his long-time interest in interfaith relations to his days as a graduate student when he was under the direction of Jewish professors and working alongside Jewish students.  "They were every bit as committed to the service of God as I was . . . If one could only know the 'Father' through Jesus Christ, how could I understand the clear reflection of God's way 'enfleshed' by these people?" (ix) 

Today's world, even today's United States, is a far more pluralistic society than March encountered in New York forty years ago.  We knowingly share the world with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Confucianists, Animists, Jews, Sikhs, Jains, Zoroastrians, and those of many more faith traditions.  As a nation we have experienced the dire effects of militant extremism, practiced by those who "deny the right of any others to exist and... [are] willing to exercise any measure of terror...toward the eradication of all they judge to be their enemies"(xi).  In our modern world, March maintains that it is more imperative than ever that we who profess faith in Jesus Christ realize that God's love is far wider than any human limits.  The "Bible itself...clearly contradicts the narrow, supersessionist interpretation that God is concerned only with the chosen people, whether Jews or Christians"(118-119).  After pointing out that we who are Christians also have been guilty of encouraging and at times actively supporting "terrible things in the name of faithfulness to God"(5), March lifts up texts from throughout the canon to support his argument that God's love is not intended for only a fraction of the human community; he also pushes his readers to consider biblical texts in context, asserting that there is room for more than one true religion.

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Heartbreak and hope: Presbyterians face life after Hurricane Katrina

For Presbyterians whose lives were turned upside down by Hurricane Katrina, the next few months will bring -- who knows what?

Homes are gone, sanctuaries soaked, records destroyed, jobs lost, connections broken. Churches where people gathered Sunday after Sunday to praise God are dark. Decisions are being made, family by family, person by person, whether to come back and rebuild or start over somewhere else.

And it's not clear whether some churches will ever recover -- especially those that were small and vulnerable to begin with.   

John Spaulding, a retired minister, has served in recent years as supply pastor for two Louisiana congregations -- Carolyn Park in Arabi and Gheens church, a French-speaking Cajun congregation of about 50 in Lafourche parish.

Speaking from a hotel room near Dallas, where he's been staying since he evacuated right ahead of Katrina, Spaulding said Carolyn Park is in St. Bernard parish, "which was really devastated. I have not been able to make contact with those people at all."

Many in the church were elderly, Spaulding said. The congregation had declined from 200 to about 40, and "we've been trying to turn the corner on that and we have, very slowly. We were moving in that direction . . . We had such great plans before the hurricane."

But what lies ahead now, he doesn't know. There's no weekly collection and the budget was shaky before the storm. Spaulding wants to be a spiritual support for his people, but he can't find them.

Editorials

Abandoned people, principles

Last week in New Orleans ... nobody took control. ... The rich escaped while the poor were abandoned. ... Partisans squabbled while the nation was ashamed. The first rule of the social fabric -- that in times of crisis you protect the vulnerable -- was trampled.

I have pondered these words by David Brooks on the Sunday (9/4) New York Times Op-Ed page almost relentlessly. After 23 years as pastor of a downtown church, I know the names of Richmond's vulnerable too well for comfort. Our congregation, together with more than 100 churches and synagogues in the city, has ministered to them, sometimes with opposition from the city and the powerful. We have served them lunches, listened to their woes, celebrated their joys, seen the plight of their circumstances in adult homes, and directed them to medical care or emergency assistance. We have preached their funerals. We have sheltered them and visited them, and with many agencies, have tried to keep them from homelessness. Their faces are the faces of those multitudes abandoned by the authorities in New Orleans. 

Voices

A wealth of faith

It was easy to feel sorry for them. The poor, displaced, battered citizens of New Orleans confronted us with the disparity of economic life in America.

But as the days turned to weeks, another subtext began to surface, showing an even greater disparity. A surprising number of the poor were, in fact, rich in spirit. Despite having little, they showed an enormous depth of spiritual understanding and a remarkable display of extravagant faith.

An elderly woman, finally pulled from her house after days of waiting, seemed surprisingly peaceful as television crews filmed her rescue. When a reporter asked if she was glad the rescuers had finally arrived she said, "Yes, I'm glad to see them. But I had the Lord with me whether anyone else showed up or not."

Unlike many of us whose wealth obscures our spiritual sight, this woman gave contemporary meaning to the Bible verse written by the Apostle Paul: "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want." (Philippians 4:12)

Book Reviews

Awakened to a Calling: Reflections on the Vocation of Ministry

edited by Ann M. Svennungsen and Melissa Wiginton. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005. 84 pages

 

Much has been written and spoken about creating a culture of call in the life of the church. It has been said that the once-fertile soil of homes, congregations, camps and colleges that nurtured faith and produced a harvest of talented ministers of Word and Sacrament has grown thin, worn out and eroded away. Family priorities have changed. Overcommitted youth are engaged in a myriad of activities and have little time for worship and little interest in church school. I heard an elder in a congregation say that the pastoral ministry was a dead end job and she certainly hoped her child was thinking about some other profession than pastoral ministry. Church camps are replaced with camps that offer flashier facilities and more upscale activities; church-related colleges drop their requirements in Bible and theology.

Yet, this is only part of the picture. After years of declining attention to the culture of call, fresh interest is being given to how we can help a new generation of young adults hear the call to serve God through their vocations. The concern is not only about helping young adults discern a call to the ministry of Word and Sacrament, but to see their daily lives, loves and labors as their vocation, their calling to serve and glorify God. Certainly, the Lilly Endowment, the Fund for Theological Education, and other organizations have worked with congregations, colleges and seminaries to help them become fertile soil for discerning call. Congregations are waking up to their role in helping young people identify their call; church-related colleges are beginning new efforts to awaken students to their life's vocation; seminaries are reaching college students and even high school students with fresh, creative opportunities to explore vocational questions through special programs in theology, the arts, Bible study and service. 

Voices

How Do We Change The Book of Order?

The Book of Order is a compendium of Presbyterian experience based on nearly three hundred years of practice, prayer and study of Scripture. Occasionally church officers get the mistaken opinion that it is a static document, forever fixed by someone in the presbytery or General Assembly.

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New beginning at Forman, new challenge for a family

Summer 2005 was a time of finishing work commitments, selling the house, family visits, packing--and looking ahead to three years in Lahore, Pakistan, for Marianne Vermeer, Robert Johnson and their two sons, Nathan, 12, and Peter, 7.

They are newly-named mission co-workers with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for three years working at Forman Christian College in Lahore.  Marianne will be an executive assistant to the principal (president) of Forman, Dr. Peter Armacost. Robert will be teaching at Forman and working with the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan in their seminary.

How does a couple decide to follow such an undertaking, such a calling?

Both Marianne and Robert were mature believers open to different possibilities for their work. She has an M.A. in business and higher education and had experience  in administration on an executive level, operating until recently her own consulting firm. Robert  recently completed Ph.D. work in history and theology at Union Theological Seminary-PSCE in Richmond. "Our skills were suited to Forman," she says.

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Today’s seminarians: Seeking a life of meaning, a faith that matters

Presbyterian seminaries are noticing a change: their entering classes are getting younger.

More students in their early 20s are coming to study theology -- some of them straight out of college, others after spending a year or two doing volunteer or mission work. Some of those students do intend to work in parish ministry -- although whether they'll want to serve the kinds of congregations that most need pastors remains to be seen.

And some Presbyterians involved with programs designed to try to interest high school and college students in considering careers in ministry say they think those programs -- along with college programs encouraging students to think of their career choices as part of a discernment process of what they want to do with their lives -- are beginning to make a difference.

"I'm wondering if it's a combination of the job market or the whole 9/11 thing, or we're a country at war," said Craig Howard, director of admissions at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. "These students are coming in knowing there are needs in the world."

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How God calls, how some respond

LOUISVILLE -- Some students know practically from the beginning that the ministry's for them. Others hear God's call faintly at first, then growing stronger, insistent, until they can't ignore it any more.

Becky Schwandt, 23, of Springfield, Mo., is a brand-new student at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary -- one of a growing number going to seminary pretty much straight from college. She graduated last spring from Drury University, majored in religion, and took biblical Greek in college to get ready. This is what she's always wanted. 

And she was influenced in part by her pastor in high school, a woman who helped fill the void after Schwandt's mother died of breast cancer. She showed Schwandt how rewarding a life in ministry could be -- teaching her by example that pastors can have fun and don't have to be perfect. "I'm here," Schwandt said with a grin, "and I'm not perfect."

Amy Robinson, from Washington state, used to lead "church" services from the trunk of her family's car when she was four years old. From the sixth grade on, "there were people from my congregation who were telling me to go to seminary and become a minister."

She moved closer and closer, "but I never thought I'd actually accept it." After college she interned for a church, became a young adult volunteer for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and worked for a year. "Even though I was exhausted and depressed at times" -- Robinson saw some of the flaws of the church up close -- "I never felt silenced." She took that continuing verification of her call -- took a deep breath, and at 25 is starting at Louisville seminary.

Editorials

A call to Ministry of the Word

 

I rattled a few cages when I questioned those in non-parish settings who do not regularly preach and celebrate the sacraments, which is the primary function of Reformed pastors--not editing a magazine, not heading a non-profit, not pastoral counseling, valuable as those things are to the life of humankind and the church. But preaching, teaching, celebrating the sacraments, and pastoral care in a congregational setting are what build up the church, and empower it to witness to the kingdom of Christ. This is a classic -- not just a Reformed -- no-brainer since the church does not exist or thrive without book, water, and table.

A call to ministry is nourished in the soil of the church. There we learn that the vocation of all Christians is to serve the Lord in daily life -- whether at home or in the law firm, as social worker, police officer, doctor or CEO, or some patched - together combination of hearthside and curbside activities to sustain self and family. Disciples of Jesus are expected to ask what God wants from them -- not as customers, shoppers, consumers, or those to be entertained -- but as persons called to reflect the glory of God.

 

Voices

The seminary and the church

 

The seminaries and their constituent congregations enjoy a deep and abiding relationship within the ethos of American Presbyterianism. In fact, in a time when much of our denominational ecosystem is under some degree of stress and decline, it is my observation that the seminaries and the great majority of our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations remain its healthiest components.

With respect to our ten PC(USA) seminaries, I have already had ample opportunity in my three years of serving as a seminary president to get a good look at the complexion of theological education in North America, and I believe they are without peer. They represent the gold standard when it comes to the quality of education, the quality of faculty, the quality of clergy being sent out into the church, the value base still alive in our denomination for the stewardship of the mind, and their sheer institutional strength and stability.

It is also interesting to me, in terms of the relationship our seminaries have to the church, that over the last decade, when Presbyterian seminaries have chosen presidents, they have overwhelmingly chosen pastors and not academicians--persons who, even if they have a Ph.D., are coming straight from the parish where they have spent most of their ministry. That is a profound statement, I believe, that at a deep level the church and the seminary want to be in still closer conversation.

And maybe it's about time, the church and the seminary may be saying to one another. From the church's perspective, there is this sense--not always justifiable, in my humble opinion--that the seminaries are out of touch with the life of the church; that their faculties are not sufficiently engaged in the on-the-ground life of the church; and that the questions we pursue in seminary are not necessarily the questions that most concern the church.

Voices

Finding our balance

 

What is the meaning of Reformed theological education for the life of the Presbyterian Church in these days of extreme diversity and conflict?"

These days, pastors and faithful disciples in the pews are wondering if the Presbyterian Church can hold together amidst all the tossing and turning. Some wonder why we don't just call a meeting, hire a good lawyer, get a divorce, split up the property, and move on. Seminary students wonder if there will be a church to serve after they graduate. We know it wouldn't be the first time the Church has divided, though concord after these divisions has lasted for only a short time. And we know from our constitution that Visible oneness, by which a diversity of persons, gifts, and understandings is brought together, is an important sign of the unity of God's people. It is also a means by which that unity is achieved. (Book of Order, G-4.0203).

In these days of extreme diversity and conflict, as we seek the peace, unity, and purity of the church, it seems as if we are walking a tight wire. The question becomes, "How shall we maintain our balance?" That's a question for Reformed theological education.  

Voices

From pulpit to seminary

 

 

A few weeks ago, after Pittsburgh Seminary had announced that I would be its next President, the editor of The Presbyterian Outlook asked me, "Bill, why are you leaving the parish to return to the academy?" The short answer might be "the three great things about academia: June, July and August!", but real scholars know better. It never really slows down that much in the summer months with all the Hebrew and Greek courses, and all the continuing education events. Administrators and staff especially plow right on. Faculty members put the finishing touches on those tomes they have been trying to write all year.

Still, the editor's question hung in the air waiting to be answered.

Actually, there were two parts to the question: (a) Why are you leaving the church for the school and (b) What should the school be doing for the church these days?

Voices

The Good Pastor

  

Excerpts from an address at the Louisville Seminary Luncheon, 216th General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Richmond, Va, June 30, 2004 and published in the fall 2004 issue of The Mosaic of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

 

For more than 150 years, this precious schoolhouse of the church has specialized in training good pastors for the church -- good pastors who have been called to live and hope as expectant servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ... Reverently and expectantly, I want our first conversation as family to focus on a vision about the good pastors we hope to continue to train in our community of the Word at Louisville Seminary.

First, I believe the good pastor is a passionate/compassionate believer of the Christian gospel. Our people in the pews long for pastors who passionately/ compassionately believe what they preach and teach. Indeed, from a parishioner's viewpoint, one of the most priceless affirmations a preacher can receive is: "I can tell you really believe what you preach." That is, our congregations deeply yearn to call good pastors who will articulate with passion the belief that Jesus Christ is incomparably the most significant event in the history of the human race; that Jesus is God's own heart of flesh who crawled into the cradle of Bethlehem and who climbed onto the cross of Golgotha; that Jesus, in the words of Joseph Sittler, "comes to us in the world where we are, where we have been, and where we are going...."; that Jesus is the risen Lord and Savior of all times and all places; that to know God now in Jesus Christ is to know God forever.

Voices

Good news is no news

  

I was sitting in my office in mid-May, writing thank you letters to donors, when the phone rang.

"This is Jordana Hochman from Morning Edition. I was referred to you by the Association of Theological Schools."

"Well, what can I do for you?"

"I have a question. Depending on your answer, I may want to interview you."

"So?"

The essence of her question: "Well, since the mainstream churches are dying--declining, at least-- and not hiring new clergy, what are your graduates going to do?"

"First, our graduates will do what they have always done--the great majority will go and serve and lead as pastors, educators, and scholars for local churches, many of which by the way are thriving. God's Word and God's work are being faithfully proclaimed and engaged, just as in every generation since the resurrection of Jesus."

"Is there a disconnect between congregations and seminaries? Isn't your enrollment declining?" she asked.

"No. On both counts. Our faculty members are all deeply involved in local church life. Members of the faculty ordained as pastors who have joined us since 1994 when I arrived have an average of nine years of experience leading local congregations. That is more experience on average than when I was a student here in the mid-sixties!

"We will have 104 degrees received--that's more than average for the last score of years at least. I understand several of our partner seminaries in the Presbyterian Church have increased enrollments and graduations now, too."

I proceeded to tell her about some of the recent graduates and some of the congregations they serve. I spoke of the heavy requirements in this and many other Presbyterian seminaries--both Hebrew and Greek language, lots of Bible, theology, history, ethics, worship, mission, and focus on skills for ministry such as teaching, evangelism, leading worship, and giving pastoral care.

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PDA presence in Katrina’s wake

SACRAMENTO -- This is what Susan Ryan hopes. The next time there's disaster, the next time people are hurting, one of the first things they'll see is someone coming to help from Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

Ryan, who leads the disaster assistance program for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said the church's emphasis in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita will be on long-term recovery -- in helping people after the immediate-relief assistance from groups such as the Red Cross ends.

The church's disaster assistance teams are well-trained, and are helping in the Katrina recovery effort by setting up tent villages where Presbyterian volunteers can stay while helping churches and families in the affected areas rebuild. "I really encourage the churches to send as steady a stream of volunteers as possible" to show the church's constant presence in times of trouble, Ryan said.

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Task Force members detail report at GAC meeting;
Presbyterians “will have each other,” Wheeler says

SACRAMENTO -- Four members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) came to tell the church more about their "remarkable spiritual journey," as co-moderator Gary Demarest put it.

And they contend that keeping the church together doesn't have to come at the price of sacrificing what one believes most deeply -- that it's possible, the words of task force member Barbara Wheeler, to "hold on to each other and our convictions about the truth at the same time."

Demarest, a retired pastor from California, made the argument that "the world is watching" as the Presbyterian church and other denominations fight out their differences in public, and that the best way to make a compelling testimony to the power of the gospel is to let the world see that what binds Christians together in Jesus Christ is much more powerful than what divides them.

The four task force members spoke Sept. 22 to a joint gathering of top Presbyterian groups meeting in Sacramento -- the General Assembly Council, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Foundation, the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, and the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. This is one of many places the 20 task force members will go in the coming months to try to build support for their report and recommendations before the General Assembly votes on it in Birmingham next June.

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Vice Moderator loses church, home to Katrina, she tells GAC;
“We will not be alone as we work to rebuild”

SACRAMENTO -- Jean Marie Peacock, associate pastor of Lakeview Church in New Orleans, left with her husband, Peter, at 2 a.m. on that Sunday, not long before Hurricane Katrina hit.

They drove first to Jackson, Mississippi; and when the news reports still sounded bad, on to Memphis; and when it became clear that the levees had been breached and their neighborhood flooded, on to her parents' home in Illinois.

They live not far from the breach in the 17th Street levy, and they've learned that the water rose seven or eight feet in most of the homes in the area, including theirs. Out of her congregation of 335 members, about half lost their homes.

 "Our church is now dispersed all over the United States," scattered from Massachusetts to Florida to Missouri, Peacock said at the General Assembly Council meeting in California. She's also the vice-moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and she was asked to speak about her situation because so many people wanted to know what was happening with her church.

Book Reviews

The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates

The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates, by Bradley J. Longfield.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.  Pb., 352 pp.  ISBN 0-19-508674-0. $30.

Editor's Note: This book review was written before the release of the recommendations from the PC(USA) Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity.

 

Along with Jon Walton, I serve as the Co-Moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians and was glad to be asked to recommend a book that might be instructive to members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as we awaited the full report and recommendations of the Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity. I asked for suggestions from many friends and colleagues. One book got several mentions and so I ordered it and then wondered if I would stay awake as I read it.

When one is pondering "summer reading" possibilities, suffice it to say that the title, The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists, and Moderates, would not seem to be the best choice to slip into your beach bag! That said, I thoroughly enjoyed--yes, enjoyed--reading this interestingly written and instructive book by Bradley J. Longfield. I believe that this book ought to be on every pastor's reading list and required reading for seminarians. It should be accessible to laypeople who seek to understand the Presbyterian Church's ways of debating important issues and trying to work through times of disagreement by a responsible use of our polity and understanding of our history.

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