wfn.org | PHEWA Declines to Endorse Anti-"Fidelity and Chastity" Amendment

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

22-January-1997 
 
 
97035               PHEWA Declines to Endorse 
        Anti-"Fidelity and Chastity" Amendment Resolution 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--In a meeting more notable for what failed to pass than 
what was approved, members of the Presbyterian Health, Education and 
Welfare Association (PHEWA) turned down a resolution here Jan. 18 that 
would have put the association on record as supporting the defeat of the 
so-called "fidelity and chastity" amendment. 
 
     In their business meeting, part of PHEWA's biennial social welfare 
ministries conference, association members also turned down a resolution 
encouraging the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) "to do education for the 
promotion of abstinence from alcoholic beverages." 
 
           Anti-amendment vote cited as tactical move  
 
     Association members David Cockroft and Carlos Gutierrez submitted a 
resolution calling for PHEWA to "concur" with a "1997 Declaration of 
Reformed Faith," a statement issued Jan. 12 by 25 Presbyterian leaders 
gathered in Rochester, N.Y., and circulated around the church for further 
endorsements. 
 
     Patterned after the 1934 "Declaration of Barmen" in the "Book of 
Confessions," the statement concludes: "We ... reject the false doctrine 
that the gender of partners in a sexual relationship is a sign by which its 
inherent worth and acceptability before God can be judged." 
 
     No one spoke against the content of the document.  PHEWA had, in fact, 
come under fire in 1993 when that year's biennial membership meeting 
adopted a statement supporting the ordination of gay and lesbian 
Presbyterians to church office. 
 
     But the Rev. John Scotland, a longtime PHEWA officer and outspoken 
opponent of the "fidelity and chastity" amendment, moved that the 
resolution of concurrence be referred to the PHEWA board of directors for 
further deliberation.  "We are waged in a church-by-church battle to defeat 
the amendment in my presbytery [West Jersey]," he said, "and this 
resolution will not help us."  Scotland said the "issues [surrounding the 
resolution and the Rochester declaration] are too complex to just pass 
without further study." 
 
     Larimore Wickett, a PHEWA board member from the Synod of the 
Southwest, agreed.  "The PC(USA) is on the brink of deciding [on the 
"fidelity and chastity" amendment]," he said.  "I don't want to shoot 
ourselves in the foot." 
 
     The Rev. Jane Spahr, the most visible advocate for the ordination of 
gay and lesbian Presbyterians in the denomination and a signer of the "1997 
Declaration of Reformed Faith," pleaded for endorsement of the document. 
"If PHEWA doesn't pass this, my God, who will?" she queried. 
 
     Virginia Davidson, a member of Downtown Presbyterian Church in 
Rochester, where the document was formulated, and a signer of it, argued 
that the document was "a work of deliberation by a respected group of 
people.  PHEWA is a voice for justice and love -- it seems appropriate to 
me that we consider and approve this declaration." 
 
     The disappointment of PHEWA's gay and lesbian members was visibly 
apparent the next morning at the closing worship service for the biennial. 
Presbyterian Act-Up founder the Rev. Howard Warren stood outside the doors 
to the worship room chanting: "Where is the justice of PHEWA for God's 
rainbow people?  This is no longer a safe place for gay and lesbian 
people!" 
 
     At the urging of biennial preacher the Rev. Sam Mann, PHEWA leaders 
and gay and lesbian members of PHEWA agreed to try to reach a satisfactory 
compromise on the whole matter. 
 
                Anti-alcohol resolution toned down 
 
     The anti-alcohol resolution, submitted by former General Assembly 
moderator the Rev. Clinton Marsh and Roberta F. Cottman, was approved after 
being amended to encourage the PC(USA) "to promote abstinence from 
alcoholic beverages as one response to the problem of alchoholism." 
 
     Such language, pointed out the Rev. Ann Hayman, president of the 
Presbyterian Network on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse (PNAODA), is more 
consistent with current General Assembly policy than a call for total 
abstinence. 
 
     The Rev. John R. Thomas, who earlier received PHEWA's highest honor -- 
the John Park Lee Award -- called for a more realistic approach to the 
problem of alcoholism than total abstinence.  "We tried prohibition once in 
this country and it didn't work, except for turning a lot of people into 
criminals," he argued. 
 
     Marsh, acknowledging that his resolution "makes me sound like an old 
fuddy-duddy," replied that he was not calling for forced prohibition but 
for voluntary abstinence. Citing automobile accident and health-care-cost 
statistics, Marsh said, "I'm not talking so much about alcoholics as I am 
about those persons and communities whose lives are damaged by the use of 
alcohol." 
 
                  Other resolutions are adopted 
 
     Four other resolutions were adopted at the meeting.  Resolutions may 
be submitted by any two PHEWA members.  Resolutions that were approved  
 
    *     affirmed General Assembly policy condemning violence at women's 
          health clinics where abortions are performed 
    *     expressed concern over "the negative impact" of the Welfare 
          Reform Bill and urged President Clinton to "correct the flaws" in 
          the legislation 
    *     urged the president and the U.S. Congress to release funds 
          earmarked for international family planning programs as soon as 
          possible 
    *     reaffirmed the Presbyterian Church's use of human sexuality 
          curriculum for all age groups, particularly youth and young 
          children, that has been developed in recent years. 
 
     A seventh resolution, calling for a consumer boycott of the Quincy 
Mushroom Company in Florida until working conditions for employees are 
improved, was referred to the denomination's Mission Responsibility Through 
Investment (MRTI) Committee.  MRTI examines such situations and proposes 
shareholder actions according to procedures established by the General 
Assembly. 
 
                         Officers elected 
 
     The group elected the Rev. Tony Chavez of Albuquerque, N.M., as its 
new president.  Chavez, who just completed a term as vice president, 
succeeds Jud Dolphin.  Other officers elected include vice president Lois 
Rifner, secretary Phil Jamison and treasurer Cleretta Blackmon. 
 
     Six new synod representatives were elected to the PHEWA board of 
directors.  They are the Rev.  John Sharick, Synod of the Covenant; Jeanne 
Torrens, Synod of Lakes and Prairies; Herman Noah, Synod of Mid-America; 
Jack Sharp, Synod of Mid-Atlantic; Hector Delgado, Synod of Puerto Rico; 
and Angela Abrego, Synod of the Sun. 
 
     They join continuing members Ann Price, Synod of Alaska-Northwest; Ted 
Miller, Synod of Lincoln Trails; Sam Robinson, Synod of Living Waters; Dave 
Taylor, Synod of the Northeast; the Rev.  Harry Chuck, Synod of the 
Pacific; Nancy Thornton McKenzie, Synod of the Rocky Mountains; Ann Sayre, 
Synod of South Atlantic; Rev. Lisa Bove, Synod of Southern California and 
Hawaii; Larimore Wickett, Synod of the Southwest; and Gail Buchwalter King, 
Synod of the Trinity. 
 
     The board also includes one representative from each of PHEWA's 10 
constituent networks. They are the Rev. Robert Brashear, Community 
Ministries and Neighborhood Organizations (COMANO); Bob Bidwell, 
Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options (PARO); Phil Jamison, 
Presbyterian AIDS Network (PAN); the Rev. Stephen Mann, Presbyterian 
Association of Specialized Pastoral Ministries (PASPM); Lois Rifner, 
Presbyterian Child Abuse Network (PCAN); Manley Olson, Presbyterians for 
Disabilities Concerns (PDC); Kristina Peterson, Presbyterian Health Network 
(PHN); Walt Elwood, Presbyterian Network on Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse 
(PNAODA); Nancy Lee Head, Presbyterian Mental Illness Network (PMIN); and 
Fred Milligan, Urban Presbyterian Pastors Association (UPPA). 

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