wfn.org | Stated Clerk nominees questioned by Candidate Review Committee

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Note #6003 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-June-2000
GA00055

	Stated Clerk nominees questioned by Candidate Review Committee
	
	by Alexa Smith

LONG BEACH, June 26. – The two candidates for stated clerk of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met for a question-and-answer
session Monday afternoon with the 19 members of the Stated Clerk Candidate
Review Committee (SCCRC), who will be assessing their qualifications for the
office before Friday's election.

	The committee was hastily convened Sunday, after a commissioner from San
Joaquin Presbytery, the Rev. Kriss Bottino, nominated a Texas pastor for the
office.  An earlier incarnation of the now-expanded SCCRC had nominated the
incumbent clerk, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, for a second four-year term.

	The 558 Assembly commissioners will vote on the two candidates at 9:30 a.m.
Friday. In the meantime, the SCCRC  will decide whether or not to recommend
a single candidate to the body.

	Jones and Kirkpatrick fielded questions of the committee for two hours.

	Commissioner George McCall, of Missouri Union Presbytery,  pushed the two
to define how each might preserve and defend the constitution and interpret
the confessions to the church, the latter being an issue Jones has
repeatedly raised in his campaign.

	Jones was clear.  "To defend the constitution and make everybody happy is
probably not possible," he said, referring first to a recent decision by the
church's highest ecclesiastical court that said Presbyterian ministers are
not forbidden to perform same-sex unions because it is not prohibited by
church polity.  "But whether you agree or not, the confessions say same-sex
sex is sin.  If you don't like that, then you should amend the constitution.
 And if I were the clerk, I would say, ‘This is the position of the
church.'"

	Kirkpatrick's stance was a bit more nuanced.  He said he would preserve and
defend the constitution and "at all costs uphold its truths," but he was
careful to add that he thinks it important to communicate a "sense of good
news on these matters," instead of focusing just on the negative.  The
clerk, he said, needs to emphasize the great themes of the Reformed
tradition and to cross the church proclaiming good news, while still, making
clear the limits.

	On a more controversial note, the Rev. Herb Christ, of San Diego
Presbytery, asked  how the candidates might reply to a session that withheld
funds in protest of a particular church policy or action.

	Jones said his session opted to redirect its benevolences after last year's
Assembly honored a lesbian activist with a prominent award; it did not, he
said, withhold per capita giving.  He said it is sometimes an act of
faithfulness to redirect monies when the church has lost its moorings.  "It
would have been a lot easier not to do this.  But it is a matter of
conscience for people.  The truth is it keeps us more honest and narrows the
gap between Louisville and congregations," he said.

	With some experience in these matters, Kirkpatrick said his protocol has
been to write letters and to visit withholding congregations in hopes of
finding some common ground.  "I think the worst way in the world to change
things," he said, "is to engage in unconstitutional practices."

	On the question of ecumenism, Kirkpatrick, calling himself a "hardcore
ecumenist," said there is a  move to "find models that are out of the box,"
differing from the bureaucratic structures set up in the 1960s.  Full
communion agreements, he said, will be more the norm.

	Jones said local churches are working more broadly with Roman Catholic,
Pentecostal and other traditions than national bodies.

	In response to a question from Elder Nancy Harper of Ohio Valley Presbytery
the candidates each stuck to their much-repeated preferences about how each
might prioritize specific parts of the constitution,   Kirkpatrick chose the
first four chapters of "The Book of Order", and Jones, "The Book of
Confessions," the first part of the constitution which he contends has been
ignored.

	The two drew finer distinctions in response to a question about whether
they see themselves as dwelling on the church's differences or emphasizing
its commonalities. "I think we're in a crisis," Jones said, citing massive
membership losses in the past 35 years.  "And I have faith in God ... but
the God I have faith in is a God of repentance who calls us back to God's
word.

	"There is such a thing as truth. [We Presbyterians] are gifted as knowing
grey.  Some things are black-and-white."

	Kirkpatrick didn't deny problems emerging from a lack of spiritual
grounding and from membership losses.  But he also said that, from his
vantage point, he sees a church where God is doing much, from worldwide
missions to local congregations.  "So my predilection," he said, "is to
focus on that the glass is half-full."

	Both men defined themselves as people-people and conceptual thinkers,
rather than polity technicians.
	
	by Alexa Smith

LONG BEACH, June 26. -- The two candidates for stated clerk of the General
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met for a question-and-answer
session Monday afternoon with the 19 members of the Stated Clerk Candidate
Review Committee (SCCRC), who will be assessing their qualifications for the
office before Friday's election.

	The committee was hastily convened Sunday, after a commissioner from San
Joaquin Presbytery, the Rev. Kriss Bottino, nominated a Texas pastor for the
office.  An earlier incarnation of the now-expanded SCCRC had nominated the
incumbent clerk, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, for a second four-year term.

	The 558 Assembly commissioners will vote on the two candidates at 9:30 a.m.
Friday. In the meantime, the SCCRC  will decide whether or not to recommend
a single candidate to the body.

	Jones and Kirkpatrick fielded questions of the committee for two hours.

	Commissioner George McCall, of Missouri Union Presbytery,  pushed the two
to define how each might preserve and defend the constitution and interpret
the confessions to the church, the latter being an issue Jones has
repeatedly raised in his campaign.

	Jones was clear.  "To defend the constitution and make everybody happy is
probably not possible," he said, referring first to a recent decision by the
church's highest ecclesiastical court that said Presbyterian ministers are
not forbidden to perform same-sex unions because it is not prohibited by
church polity.  "But whether you agree or not, the confessions say same-sex
sex is sin.  If you don't like that, then you should amend the constitution.
 And if I were the clerk, I would say, ‘This is the position of the
church.'"

	Kirkpatrick's stance was a bit more nuanced.  He said he would preserve and
defend the constitution and "at all costs uphold its truths," but he was
careful to add that he thinks it important to communicate a "sense of good
news on these matters," instead of focusing just on the negative.  The
clerk, he said, needs to emphasize the great themes of the Reformed
tradition and to cross the church proclaiming good news, while still, making
clear the limits.

	On a more controversial note, the Rev. Herb Christ, of San Diego
Presbytery, asked  how the candidates might reply to a session that withheld
funds in protest of a particular church policy or action.

	Jones said his session opted to redirect its benevolences after last year's
Assembly honored a lesbian activist with a prominent award; it did not, he
said, withhold per capita giving.  He said it is sometimes an act of
faithfulness to redirect monies when the church has lost its moorings.  "It
would have been a lot easier not to do this.  But it is a matter of
conscience for people.  The truth is it keeps us more honest and narrows the
gap between Louisville and congregations," he said.

	With some experience in these matters, Kirkpatrick said his protocol has
been to write letters and to visit withholding congregations in hopes of
finding some common ground.  "I think the worst way in the world to change
things," he said, "is to engage in unconstitutional practices."

	On the question of ecumenism, Kirkpatrick, calling himself a "hardcore
ecumenist," said there is a  move to "find models that are out of the box,"
differing from the bureaucratic structures set up in the 1960s.  Full
communion agreements, he said, will be more the norm.

	Jones said local churches are working more broadly with Roman Catholic,
Pentecostal and other traditions than national bodies.

	In response to a question from Elder Nancy Harper of Ohio Valley Presbytery
the candidates each stuck to their much-repeated preferences about how each
might prioritize specific parts of the constitution,   Kirkpatrick chose the
first four chapters of "The Book of Order", and Jones, "The Book of
Confessions," the first part of the constitution which he contends has been
ignored.

	The two drew finer distinctions in response to a question about whether
they see themselves as dwelling on the church's differences or emphasizing
its commonalities. "I think we're in a crisis," Jones said, citing massive
membership losses in the past 35 years.  "And I have faith in God ... but
the God I have faith in is a God of repentance who calls us back to God's
word.

	"There is such a thing as truth. [We Presbyterians] are gifted as knowing
grey.  Some things are black-and-white."

	Kirkpatrick didn't deny problems emerging from a lack of spiritual
grounding and from membership losses.  But he also said that, from his
vantage point, he sees a church where God is doing much, from worldwide
missions to local congregations.  "So my predilection," he said, "is to
focus on that the glass is half-full."

	Both men defined themselves as people-people and conceptual thinkers,
rather than polity technicians.

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