wfn.org | Assembly passes media and visitor policy for nonbusiness gatherings

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6095 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

30-June-2000
GA00145

	Assembly passes media and visitor policy for nonbusiness gatherings

	by Nancy D. Borst

LONG BEACH, June 30- The 212th General Assembly Friday afternoon adopted a
policy for media and visitors at nonbusiness gatherings of General Assembly
Council (GAC)-related groups of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The vote
was 446-66.

	The policy allows for closure of small group meetings at such gatherings to
media and visitors at the choice of participants when the group's purpose is
sharing personal issues of faith and life.

	Commissioners rejected a minority report that suggested the policy's
language as unclear. The report, presented by the Rev. Donald Wassinger,
Jr., asked that the GAC develop a more explicit policy that "addresses the
tension between the need for private space in some small group settings and
the need for openness which results in trust-building in many non-business
meetings." The attempt to substitute this report for the committee's
recommendation failed, 391-128.

	Elder Virginia Rainey, chair of the Mission Coordination and Budget
Committee, which recommended the policy, said it clearly defined what
meetings could be closed. She also noted the policy states that such
meetings "may" be closed but does not require that they be closed. That
decision is left up to the group.

	Others who spoke in favor of the minority report said several terms were
unclear, including what constitutes a small group, and a "nonbusiness"
gathering.

	A related overture, 00-22, was disapproved, by a vote of 446-66. It called
for all meetings to always be open, "whenever and for whatever purpose they
meet," except for those permitted to be closed under the existing open
meetings policy.

	Presbyterian Women

	An overture dealing with the lodgement of Presbyterian Women (PW) in the
national church structure, 00-45, was defeated 480-36.

	The overture from the Presbytery of Salem would have moved Presbyterian
Women from the National Ministries Division, to the Congregational
Ministries Division. Rainey told the Assembly that the presenters of the
overture said they would have withdrawn it had they not acted too late.

	Social Policy

	Overture 00-74 on making social witness policy was approved by the
Assembly, 399-109. The overture addresses what documents Assembly entities
use to make a social witness policy. It adds to the definitions of those
documents the following: "When requests for policy statements are made, the
most recent policy statement shall be given; however, past statements shall
be included in full response to requests for information."

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