wfn.org | Special Committees Appointed

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11-November-1996 
 
 
96444              Special Committees Appointed 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Three special committees and one task force of the General 
Assembly, necessitated by actions of the 208th General Assembly in 
Albuquerque last summer, have been appointed and are ready to begin work. 
 
                      Special organizations 
 
     Assembly moderator the Rev. John M. Buchanan has named eight persons 
to a Special Committee on Relationships of Accountability between the 
PC(USA) and any groups that want to be considered part of the denomination.   
 
     Formalized relationships between "special organizations" and the 
denomination used to be defined by Chapter 9 of the "Book of Order," and 
such organizations were commonly referred to as "Chapter 9 organizations." 
Chapter 9 was stricken from the "Book of Order" in 1991.   
 
     The special committee was authorized when the Assembly passed 
Commissioner's Resolution 96-36, which argued that "current debates and 
organizations with differing resources and allegiances suggest the wisdom 
of reinstituting guidance and minimum standards of mutual respect and 
accountability to the General Assembly." 
 
     Members of the special committee (and their presbyteries) are 
Claudette Zobel, chair  (Chicago), the Rev. William Bryant (Middle 
Tennessee), Sharon Davison (New York City), the Rev. J. Howard Edington 
(Central Florida), the Rev. Darrell Guder (Cincinnati), Larry Hollar 
(National Capital), the Rev. James Kirk (Baltimore) and Janet Ying (San 
Joaquin).  Staff to the committee is the Rev. Zane Buxton of the Office of 
the General Assembly. 
 
  Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) 
 
     Buchanan has also appointed a seven-member committee to report to the 
1997 Assembly clarifying the role of the Presbyterian Health, Education and 
Welfare Association (PHEWA) in the Presbyterian Church.   
 
     The 40-year-old association of social welfare organizations within the 
church has come under increasing fire in recent years over its financial 
record keeping, accountability to denominational structures and 
pronouncements on various issues, especially the ordination of gay and 
lesbian Presbyterians to church office. 
 
     An overture to the last Assembly from Shenango Presbytery calling for 
the elimination of mission budget funding for PHEWA was rejected, but 
authorization for the special committee was approved as a response to an 
overture from Southern Kansas Presbytery. 
 
     Members of the special committee (and their presbyteries) are the Rev. 
William Forbes, chair (Elizabeth), Sara Brown (Grand Canyon), John Bryan 
(San Diego), the Rev. David Dawson (Shenango), the Rev. Caroline Leach 
(Greater Atlanta), Sandra Wagenius (Yukon) and Maria Yee (Stockton).  Staff 
is Frederick Heuser Jr., director of the Department of History in the 
Office of the General Assembly, located in Philadelphia. 
 
               Middle governing body relationships 
 
     Citing a breakdown in relationships between the General Assembly and 
synods and presbyteries, the Quadrennial Committee on Review proposed and 
the Assembly approved creation of a nine-member Special Committee on Middle 
Governing Body Relationships.   
 
     The committee is to meet for two years, after which the Committee on 
the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Council, "in 
consultation with middle governing bodies," will evaluate the need for a 
permanent committee on middle governing body relationships. 
 
     Those appointed by Buchanan to the special committee (and their 
presbyteries) are the Rev.  Edwin Albright, chair (St. Augustine), Buddy 
Tate Choy (San Francisco), the Rev. Helen Cochran (Beaver-Butler), William 
Fall (Wabash Valley), James Hartman (Cincinnati), the Rev. Robert Nicholson 
(Seattle), the Rev. Homer Phifer Jr. (Shenandoah), Ronnie Sellers (Southern 
Kansas) and the Rev. Sylvia Wilson (Heartland).  Staff to the special 
committee is the Rev. Eugene Turner of the Office of the General Assembly. 
 
                  Allocation of restricted funds 
 
     Fifteen members have been appointed to a task force to develop a 
process in which all governing bodies can be involved in the allocation of 
restricted funds given to the General Assembly for mission purposes. 
 
     The task force was authorized by the Assembly in response to an 
overture from the Synod of the Southwest that sought a more participatory 
allocation system for restricted funds.  The overture also sought greater 
public disclosure of restricted funds and the specific restrictions on them 
and asked that geographically restricted endowments be made available 
directly to the appropriate governing bodies. 
 
     Nine members of the task force were appointed by Buchanan.  They (and 
their presbytery or synod) are the Rev. Gary Skinner, chair (Synod of 
Alaska-Northwest), the Rev. John Bartholomew (Synod of South Atlantic), 
Joyce Bauer (New Hope), Sammie Potts (Charlotte), Lena Prewitt (Sheppards & 
Lapsley), the Rev. H. Christian Ronnow (Chicago), the Rev. Debra Shevlin 
(Arkansas), Elona Street Stewart (South Dakota) and Carrie Washington 
(Newark). 
 
     The three task force members appointed by the General Assembly Council 
are Youngil Cho (New Hope), Fred Denson (Genesee Valley) and the Rev. 
Richard Hutchison (Whitewater Valley). 
 
     The three task force members appointed by the Presbyterian Foundation 
are James R. Bellatti (Cimarron), Ronald W. Roe (Louisville) and Robert V. 
Martz (Grand Canyon). 
 
     Staff to the task force is the Rev. Margaret Thomas, executive for the 
Synod of Lakes and Prairies.   

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