GA224 Archives - The Presbyterian Outlook

Climate change and divestment: MRTI votes on recommendation to General Assembly

January 16, 2020 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

A committee is recommending that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) divest from three companies that it says are not making sufficient progress on responding to climate change issues. That’s the recommendation the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has voted to make to the 2020 General Assembly, after determining that those companies – Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum and Valero Energy – have fallen into the “red” or least acceptable zone in MRTI’s system of metrics. That system tracks progress – or lack of it – on dozens of measures, and is intended to provide a way of measuring whether MRTI’s process of corporate engagement is achieving results. MRTI uses that system, which the 2018 General Assembly approved, to measure companies’ progress in addressing concerns about global warming and environmental issues. MRTI’s recommendation marks a shift from the rankings it released in June 2019. Both Marathon and Valero were in the red zone then, but since … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA224

Special committee nears a vote on report on PC(USA) financial sustainability

December 16, 2019 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

A special committee considering financial sustainability in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is expected to recommend the possibility of some sort of structural revision at the top levels of the denomination - and is hoping for support in a month or two from the Moving Forward Implementation Commission. A work group of that committee has determined that while there may be enough money in the denomination in total, “the current allocation of funding between agencies is not sustainable.” A draft report which the special committee discussed in a Dec. 16 conference call describes the problem this way: “Sadly, there is too little union, not enough community, and way too much confusion about mission among congregations and councils for our church to be sustainable going forward. This is why we recommend an examination of the possibility of reorganizing our national church. “ The Special Committee on Per Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability, which the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224 • per capita

Creation care: How will the Presbyterian Church respond to climate change?

December 4, 2019 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

Some young people are so concerned about the imminent danger to the planet from climate change – from all they see happening around them to the animals and the oceans and the glaciers and the land – that they have decided never to have children. They can’t face bringing new life into such a broken world. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is likely to take time at the 2020 General Assembly to dive into another intricate debate about the metrics used by the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) — trying to decide whether to follow a measured strategy of corporate engagement with nine particular companies, or whether the PC(USA) should move quickly to divest all its holdings from fossil fuel companies and reinvest in companies focusing on renewable energy and energy efficiency. There’s a challenge here. Presbyterians tend to do things deliberately, by committee and task force and carefully worded public statement and reports. And young people, … [Read more...]

Tagged With: creation stewardship • fossil fuels • GA224

Gun control overture coming to 2020 General Assembly

November 25, 2019 by Leslie Scanlon Leave a Comment

Where do Presbyterians stand on gun violence — one of the most divisive political issues in the country? The 2020 General Assembly is being asked to approve an overture that would call on Congress to change federal law to: Require universal background checks “for purchases of firearms in any and all venues”; Ban the sale and ownership of assault weapons; Restrict the use of large capacity ammunition magazines; and Establish extreme risk and protection orders (“red-flag” laws) to allow courts to remove weapons when someone shows warning signs of impending violence to self or others. The overture comes from the Synod of the Covenant, which includes the city of Dayton, Ohio. That’s where, in 32 seconds of shooting with an automatic weapon, a young man killed nine and wounded 27 others in a popular nightclub district early the evening of August 4. That shooting came not even a day after 22 were killed and 26 wounded in a shooting at a Walmart in El Paso. “We … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224 • gun violence