wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Abu-Akel acted improperly, PJC says

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Note #7630 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Abu-Akel acted improperly, PJC says
03145
March 20, 2003

Abu-Akel acted improperly, PJC says

But ruling upholds moderator's decision not to call special Assembly

by John Filiatreau

KANSAS CITY, MO - The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission ruled on
March 19 that Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel "acted improperly" when he implored
commissioners "in the name of Christ and for the good of the Presbyterian
Church (USA)" not to press for a special meeting of the 214th General
Assembly.
	
The commission nonetheless dismissed the complaint against Abu-Akel, saying
that in this case he "was not required to call a special meeting" because he
had not received "sufficient requests" to trigger the constitutional
requirement that a meeting be called. 
	
The decision seemed to eliminate the last remaining slim chance that the
214th Assembly would meet again before this year's 215th GA convenes in
Denver on May 24.
	
The PJC said Abu-Akel's opposition to the special Assembly "had the
appearance of seeking to undermine the rights of commissioners" to last
year's General Assembly.
	
After Jan. 14, when the petition was presented to him, Abu-Akel was "obliged
to cease advocacy of a particular position and act with impartiality" in
carrying out his duties as described in the section G-13.0104 of the Book of
Order, the denomination's highest judicial body said.
	
The PJC also ruled that commissioners are free to "join or withdraw from" a
request for such a meeting up to "such time as the moderator issues the call
for that meeting." It said such a request is "not a vote, but a statement of
personal intent, which is subject to change until such time as it effects an
action that cannot be undone, such as a call for a meeting." In the meantime,
it added, commissioners should "remain open to the guidance of the Holy
Spirit."
	
The commission members said the Rev. Abu-Akel was right to require
verification of the standing and the signatures of the 57 commissioners who
allegedly had requested the meeting. And it said he was right in asserting
that the Book of Order would require 120 days' notice of such an Assembly,
because the business it was to deal with would have required interpretation
of the PC(USA) constitution.
	
In the present case, the commission ruled, "The office of the moderator
conducted further inquiry to verify the intention of the requesters," an
action that it said was not improper, for three reasons: "(1) because of the
receipt of independent, unsolicited communications from commissioners
contradicting or withdrawing the alleged requests; (2) because the requests
for a special meeting had been received over an extended period of time and
kept by (the complainant) rather than the requesters or an officer of the
Assembly; and (3) because the right of commissioners to withdraw their
requests was entitled to protection."
	
It said the verification process Abu-Akel ordered "was required for the
maintenance of order and the just execution of the office." 
	
The commission also said that a moderator, as "an ambassador of this General
Assembly," has a right to communicate with the church, and thus Abu-Akel was
acting appropriately in November when he "expressed his concerns regarding a
special meeting." But once a moderator receives a petition bearing the
requisite number of names, it said, this ambassadorial role "must give way to
the constitutional duties of G-13.0104."
	
On Jan. 14, Dr. Alex Metherell, a California engineer and physician, asked
Abu-Akel to call last year's Assembly back into session to address what he
calls a "constitutional crisis" in the PC(USA). He and his attorney in the
case, Paul Rolf Jensen, blames the crisis on individuals and governing bodies
that have defied or failed to enforce the so-called "fidelity/chastity"
provision of the PC(USA) constitution.
	
That provision, section G-6.0106b of the Book of Order, says candidates for
ordination must "live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage
between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness." It was added to the
Book of Order in 1997 to prevent the ordination of unrepentant gay and
lesbian candidates for ministry.
	
Metherell and Jensen contended that the moderator "subverted" the
constitution by failing to call the Assembly even though Metherell had done
all the Book of Order requires to force such a meeting.
	
They said Abu-Akel and Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick "put a heavy thumb on
the scale" through their lobbying; misled the commissioners about the need
for 120 days' notice; in effect required a "re-vote" on the question of
calling an Assembly, and dragged their feet "until they had the number of
negative votes that they desired."
	
The complaint was filed by Jensen on behalf of the session of Westminster
Presbyterian Church, in Canton, OH. It originally included Kirkpatrick as a
respondent.
	
On Jan. 14, Metherell showed up at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville and
gave Abu-Akel a petition in which 57 commissioners to the 214th Assembly
requested that he re-convene the Assembly.
	
Several of the 57 almost immediately contacted Abu-Akel and Kirkpatrick,
asking that their names be removed from the petition. Other commissioners
asked that their names be added. Abu-Akel ultimately decided that the
petitioners hadn't met the constitutional requirement of at least "25 elders
and 25 ministers, representing at least 15 presbyteries, under the
jurisdiction of at least five synods."
	
Abu-Akel wrote two letters in which he urged the 57 requesting commissioners
to take their names off Metherell's petition. In one of them, dated Jan. 14,
he wrote, "I implore you in the name of Christ and for the good of the
Presbyterian Church (USA) to reconsider your decision." He argued, among
other things, that the money required to put on a special meeting could
better be spent on PC(USA) mission.
	
Jensen contended during the one-day trial here that Abu-Akel was required to
call the meeting upon establishing that the commissioners' signatures were
genuine. "If you will look at The Book of Order in its plain meaning, there
is no room for doubt. ... There is no 'wiggle room,'" he said in his closing
argument. " The only relevant issue is whether the written requests were
made to the moderator and if they were genuine."
	
Woods argued that, because there was never a time when the requisite number
of commissioners was party to Metherell's request, the moderator "had a
positive obligation not to call an Assembly."
	
The decision was signed by Mary Lou Koenig, the PJC's moderator, and Ernest
E. Cutting, its stated clerk.
	
Two members, Gwen O. Cook and Vice-Moderator Christopher A. Yim, filed a
partial dissent in which they agreed that the moderator acted improperly, but
argued that the appropriate remedy would have been to order him to conduct a
verification process "untainted" by his partiality.
	
Cook and Yim said the verification effort should "focus solely on the
legality of the signatures" and "ought to be sterile, neither for nor against
the cause of the petition." They said they understood why Abu-Akel didn't
want to convene an Assembly, but believed a person elected to church office
is "obligated to fulfill the constitutionally mandated duties of office
regardless of one's personal opinion."
	
"For the petitioners to be cajoled or implored to remove their names from the
duly presented petition, especially based on a debatable projection of the
cost of meeting or the required number of days necessary for meeting
notification, was clearly improper," they wrote.

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