wfn.org | Committee to recommend church response to federal leaders,

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

Note #6865 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

congregations on Sept. 11 attacks
27-September-2001
01348

Committee to recommend church response to federal leaders, congregations on
Sept. 11 attacks

Moderators' conference to be held in November 

by Evan Silverstein

TEMPE, AZ - The Presbyterian Church (USA) will submit a formal response on
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to President Bush, Congress and the
denomination's congregational leaders and ecumenical partners.

If the executive committee of the General Assembly Council (GAC) has its
way, that is.

Committee members meeting here on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved two
separate motions recommending formation of a writing team to develop
correspondence outlining the church's reaction to the suicidal aerial
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. The committee's
recommendation will be submitted on Saturday to the entire GAC, which must
approve the measure.

A writing team could incorporate portions of an advice and counsel
memorandum from the PC(USA)'s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy
(ACSWP) with suggestions for a letter of response from the church. The
Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns and the Advocacy Committee for
Women's Concerns also helped compose the document.
The GAC executive committee also approved a recommendation commending the
three groups for their roles in writing the paper.

"The Advice and Counsel group sees the moment in which we are in as  one in
which the church has an opportunity to speak to a new situation in both our
world and in our church," said the Rev. Peter Sulyok, ACSWP's coordinator.
"Because both congregations and our nation have been changed by the events
of Sept. 11."

The three-and-a-half-page memorandum calls for a "measured response" to the
attacks, the worst acts of terrorism ever on U.S. soil.

"We also recognize that in our pain and wounded national pride, we must be
thoughtful about what has happened," the memorandum said. "Careful not to
react in a spirit of vengeance, prayerfully listening for the guidance of
God through the world of the Holy Spirit within the community of faith, and
attentive to our Reformed tradition."

Those compiling a church response may also draw from a special resolution
approved Sept. 20 by the Presbytery of San Joaquin. And also from a letter
to the denomination written shortly after the assaults by three top church
leaders.

"We know that the deep shock and grief we feel on behalf of all who have
perished is multiplied many fold for those whose lives have been touched
directly," said the letter signed by General Assembly moderator the Rev.
Jack Rogers, stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick and John Detterick,
executive director of the General Assembly Council.

Moderators Conference Set

Dates for the 2001 Moderators' Conference was announced by General Assembly
moderator Jack Rogers. Moderators from many of the 173 presbyteries and 16
synods will gather in Louisville from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 for the annual
conference, hosted each year by the General Assembly moderator.

This year's moderator, the Rev. Jack Rogers, has chosen "Jesus Christ is Our
Peace" as the theme for the gathering.

"What we're trying to do is offer this as a support to the leadership of the
presbyteries," Rogers said.
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