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

GA99003     Council Divided Against Itself Lets Stand 
                  an Award to a Lesbian Activist 
 
FORT WORTH   By a single vote, the General Assembly Council (GAC) of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) upheld the decision of its executive committee 
to allow a lesbian minister to receive a prestigious award during the 1999 
General Assembly here. 
 
     The 41-40 secret-ballot vote to permit the presentation of one of the 
annual Women of Faith Awards to the Rev. Jane Spahr of San Rafael, Calif., 
an evangelist who   contrary to long- standing PC(USA) policy   advocates 
for the ordination of gays and lesbians, came after a central California 
presbytery petitioned the council to rescind Spahr's award. 
 
     In presenting its motion, San Joaquin Presbytery acknowledged that the 
Women of Faith dispute is "one of those 'no-win' situations." 
 
     Spahr is one of three 1999 recipients for an award that was first 
presented in 1920 when U.S. women won the right to vote. The awards will be 
presented during an annual breakfast scheduled for June 20, the morning 
after the Assembly convenes. 
 
     The narrow margin of the council's vote prompted its 87 members to 
approve a "pastoral letter" to the Assembly insisting that the vote was not 
an endorsement of  "anyone's position for or against the policies and 
standards of our Church." In the letter, the GAC acknowledges that the 
"absence of unanimity" among its members reflects a sharp division of 
opinion in the wider church. 
 
      "We know that many will not agree with our decision, will be hurt and 
angered by our action," the council said in its letter. "We acknowledge the 
disagreement, hurt and anger, and regret it. But we also thank God that we 
are able to disagree, strongly and vigorously, and still hold on to one 
another in Christ. We even dare to believe the Holy Spirit is leading us 
and teaching us how to be one body in spite of our differences and 
conflicts."  
 
     The statement notes that the GAC accepts "full responsibility" for an 
"inadequate" process for choosing recipients of the award, and has 
appointed a task force to review the procedures for all awards given under 
GAC auspices. 
 
      The two other Women of Faith Award honorees are the Rev. Jane Dempsey 
Douglas of Claremont, Calif., a professor of historical theology emerita at 
Princeton Theological Seminary; and the Rev. Letty M. Russell of Gilford, 
Conn., a professor of theology at Yale Divinity School, who is also openly 
lesbian. 
 
     Referring to a vociferously debated amendment that was added to the 
PC(USA) constitution in 1996 to prohibit the ordination of gays and 
lesbians, Donn Cobb of San Joaquin Presbytery   reading from a letter from 
his presbytery's General Council   asked the GAC: "Why are we honoring 
women who openly are defying our constitution? Why are we honoring women 
who refuse to accept the decision of the whole? Is there not one 
Presbyterian woman who is abiding by our constitution, that we could 
honor?" 
 
     Spahr's award was withdrawn just days after she was notified of her 
selection by a five- member committee representing the Women's Ministries 
Program Area of the National Ministries Division (NMD), the Advocacy 
Committee for Women's Concerns and the Association of Presbyterian Church 
Educators. The division's steering committee decided, after the NMD 
director called the award into question, that it should be rescinded. That 
decision was overruled weeks later when the GAC's executive committee voted 
9-2 to allow the decision of the selection committee to stand. The GAC 
executive committee also established a task force to review the policies 
and procedures for choosing recipients of all awards that fall within the 
scope of the council's work. 
 
     Cobb said his presbytery singled out Spahr in its resolution because 
the controversy first erupted around her and because many members know her 
from her work on the West Coast. 
 
     Shenango Presbytery in Pennsylvania also protested the executive 
committee's decision to allow Spahr to receive the award.  Shenango sent a 
resolution to the council asking that it declare the action of its 
executive committee unconstitutional   something that GAC parliamentarian 
Mary Ellen Lawson said is not within the GAC's authority. 
 
     Gerry McElree of Shenango Presbytery   where several sessions 
reportedly are contemplating judicial action against the GAC   told the 
council that she has seen an increase in trust on the congregational level 
in the past three years, thanks to elected and staff leadership at the 
national level.  "But if we uphold the decision of the executive committee, 
I regret to say there will be  a terrific backlash," said McElree, who 
predicted that some churches will withhold money and others will leave the 
denomination. 
 
     "It takes a lifetime to build trust," she said, "and only one action 
to destroy it." 
 
     The Rev. Warren Barnes of the Synod of the Pacific reiterated the 
executive committee's statement that its decision to proceed with the Spahr 
award was based not on the merits of the recipient, but on the selection 
process itself. "This starts the body down a slippery, dangerous slope: a 
litmus test for whom the church may recognize," Barnes said of attempts to 
keep Spahr from receiving the award. 
 
      He said it is dangerous to deviate from established procedure because 
of discomfort "with the results of the procedure." 
 
     The Rev. Bill Chapman of Palisades Presbytery read Matthew 13: 24-30 
to the council, a familiar warning that plucking weeds may unwittingly 
destroy wheat for the harvest. "We're always going to find ourselves in 
this exact spot: How to tell the weeds from the wheat," he said. 
 
     In its letter to the Assembly, the council described its debate as 
"truly an example of the unity of Christ's body at its best   differing 
opinions, strongly held, but committed to one another in the love of 
Christ." 
 
     The initial draft of the letter was composed by the Rev. John Buchanan 
of Chicago, a former General Assembly moderator; the Rev. Jeff Bridgeman of 
Solvang, Calif.; the Rev. Cathy Chisholm of Vandalia, Ill., the GAC chair; 
the Rev. Roberto "Beto" Delgado of Denton, Texas, chair of the NMD 
committee; and Jinny Miller of Mishawaka, Ind., a former Women of Faith 
Award winner. 
 
Alexa Smith     

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