wfn.org | PRESBYTERIAN MILITARY CHAPLAINS PROTEST

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

9-Mar-95

             PRESBYTERIAN MILITARY CHAPLAINS PROTEST 
                     PROPOSED FUNDING CHANGE 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and 
Military Personnel (PCCMP) has protested a proposed shift of of its 
funding from the per capita budget to the General Assembly mission 
budget. 
 
     The funding shift, and the PCCMP protest of it, will be 
debated in both the National Ministries Division and the Corporate 
and Administrative Services committee meetings this weekend -- or 
so the executive committees of the Committee on the Office of the 
General Assembly (COGA) and the General Assembly Council (GAC) 
expect. 
 
     "This is ultimately a budget issue," said the Rev. Curtis 
Kearns, director of the National Ministries Division, where the 
council's work is presently lodged.  "But the question is whether 
the functions described are per capita or program functions.  And 
the fallout is: where the dollars will reside." 
 
     The Rev. Charles E. McMillan, PCCMP director, told the 
Presbyterian News Service the organization's goals fall within the 
definition of per capita expenditures proposed by the GAC's Per 
Capita Task Force -- providing coordination, ecclesiastical and 
community functions that support the entire church.  Yet, the task 
force is recommending the funding shift. 
 
     The two executive committees received a letter from McMillan 
clarifying PCCMP's functions, since, he says, "the council was not 
consulted" about the proposed change.  He told the Presbyterian 
News Service that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the council's 
largest funding source. The council is also associated with the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church 
in America and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. 
 
     If the recommendation is approved, the funding source change 
would not occur until 1997. 
 
     Stated Clerk the Rev. James A. Andrews said how a body is 
budgeted determines how it is lodged and governed.  He questioned 
why PCCMP was not consulted when the funding change was discussed.  
"That didn't happen," said Andrews.  "How will you explain that to 
the Assembly?" 
 
     "Since when do recipients of General Assembly funds dictate 
where those funds come from?" asked associate stated clerk the Rev. 
John Scott Schaefer.  "That's at least part of this issue. No one 
is saying there will be a decrease in funding. 
 
     PCCMP was funded out of the mission budget prior to 1994. 
 
 

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For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, KY 40202
  phone 502-569-5504            fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 

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