wfn.org | Restitution for victims, other recommendations approved

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

Note #6102 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

30-June-2000
GA00151
				
	Restitution for victims, other recommendations approved

	by Nancy Rodman

LONG BEACH, June 30 - Late Friday evening the report of the Assembly
Committee on Polity was brought back to the floor and the 212th General
Assembly voted to send to the presbyteries a proposed change to the Rules of
Discipline.  It would permit permanent judicial commissions to recommend
restitution by offenders to victims of offenses, a power of discretion that
they do not currently have.  Permanent judicial commissions would be able to
add to rehabilitation programs recommendations of restitution by offenders
to the direct victims of offenses.

	The kind of restitution is not specified, but any financial restitution
recommended under the proposed amendments would be voluntary in nature and
would not violate the established precept that church discipline is not for
punishment.

	Speaking for the motion, minister commissioner Bebb Stone, Pittsburgh
Presbytery and a member of the Polity Committee, noted that the offenses
covered by the proposal are not limited to sexual misconduct by ministers
but include offenses against ministers by elders.  Several commissioners
cautioned that the option to recommend restitution is a function that
belongs with the civil courts.  Dick Carlson, minister commissioner from the
Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky said, "Victims in their sense of helplessness
often feel responsible for what has happened to them.  Restitution would
make it clear that someone else is responsible."

	The Assembly also approved a statement supporting the spirit of "fair play"
in judicial proceedings during the moratorium on legislative action on
sexuality issues.

	As its  response to Overture 00-43, the so-called "fair play" overture
which was disapproved, the Assembly approved a statement calling on the
governing bodies of the church to refrain from initiating judicial actions
with respect to issues of sexual identity and on advocates for particular
positions on these issues to exercise similar restraint in their public
statements and actions while the legislative moratorium on these issues is
in effect.

	The Assembly issued the statement in the same spirit of dialogue and
understanding with which it agreed to refer to next year's General Assembly
items relating to the section in the Form of Government known as G-6.0106b,
which addresses issues of sexual orientation, even though it has no
authority over judicial process.

	Minister commissioner Dana Lindsley of Milwaukee Presbytery, the presbytery
that sent the overture to the General Assembly, expressed satisfaction with
the statement saying, "This statement enhances the season of dialogue to
which we are committed."

	"This is bad judicial action," said Robin Roberts, elder commissioner from
the Presbytery of Mississippi.  "We are not only a legislative body but we
also have judicial responsibilities.  It doesn't cut off dialogue to know
that rules are in place."

	This statement requires no further action and will be communicated to the
church by the Office of the General Assembly.

	In other matters, the Assembly

	* disapproved an overture asking for separate ballots for amendments
containing more than one amendment and strongly urged the Office of the
General Assembly "to offer clear guidance to the Assembly and its committees
in ensuring that what are essentially separate actions that 'are not
interdependent' are treated as separate amendments."

 	* said that presbyteries and synods should take care to differentiate the
roles of moderators and stated clerks (ecclesiastical officers) from the
roles of program staff and councils by making responsibilities and
accountability clear in their bylaws, standing rules, and administrative
manuals
 
	* confirmed the 1999 amendment tally
 
	* referred to the Office of the General Assembly (OGA) for study in
consultation with the Presbytery of Tropical Florida an overture seeking to
correct inconsistencies concerning alternative forms of resolution of
judicial matters and directed that the OGA report to the 213th General
Assembly in 2001.

_______________________________________________
pcusaNews mailing list
pcusaNews@pcusa.org

To unsubscribe, go to this web address:
http://pcusa01.pcusa.org/mailman/listinfo/pcusanews