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Note #7949 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Family focus
03404
September 26, 2003

Family focus

Hearing yields no squabbles over controversial families paper

By Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Without the contentious bite of past debates, a Presbyterian
panel working to revise a controversial policy paper on the changing nature
of American families received public feedback during an open hearing Sept.
24.

The 45-minute public session took place at the Louisville Presbyterian
Theological Seminary during a two-day meeting of the special panel, formed by
the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy
(ACSWP), in consultation with the General Assembly Council's Office of
Theology and Worship.

The panel of ACSWP representatives and others from around the church was
organized after the committee's paper, "Living Faithfully with Families in
Transition," provoked spirited debate at the denomination's recent 215th
General Assembly, giving rise to a two-page substitute drafted by members of
the National Issues Committee.

The 45-page report was referred to the Assembly committee, which approved a
two-page substitute drafted by committee members with the assistance of the
Institute on Religion and Democracy, which houses the "think tank" and
advocacy group, Presbyterian Action. This document became the majority
report. Some committee members then drafted a minority report.

The Assembly voted to refer the majority and minority reports back to ACSWP
with instructions that it "strengthen" the original in consultation with the
Office of Theology and Worship and report to next year's 216th Assembly in
Richmond, VA.

ACSWP, which develops social policies for GA consideration, had urged the
church in its paper to commit to being an inclusive community that values
many forms of family.

Detractors said the ACSWP paper was based on "flawed" theology and sociology;
diminished the importance of the traditional two-parent family; and elevated
non-traditional families, including those involving unmarried partners and
same-sex couples, to moral equivalence, in violation of scripture and of
Christian morality.

However, the tension of last May's National Issues Committee hearing and on
the floor of the Assembly in Denver was not present here Sept. 24, when four
participants provided the panel with suggestions for strengthening the paper.

"They were just concerned with better ministering to families in the church,"
said ACSWP Coordinator Peter Sulyok, one of three PC(USA) staff members
assisting the panel.

Jean Snyder of Florence, KY, supported ACSWP's paper, which she described as
helpful.

"I found it well researched, well documented and well written," said Snyder,
a parent who reviewed the ACSWP document as part of a synod consultation. "It
is contemporary and extremely valuable that the PC(USA) could use for
families of the 21st century."

While she agreed with another speaker that the paper is just a "beginning
point," she said the document is sorely needed by the church.

As proof, Snyder pointed to a lack of support she received from the church
after her previous marriage ended in divorce. A so-called "ideal family,"
dominated by an abusive, alcoholic husband.

Snyder said she received no positive support from the church when a
heterosexual woman and her daughter moved into the Snyder household after
losing their home.

"I believe the Bible gives us many variations on different families and how
to be family," she said.

Snyder disagreed with opponents of ACSWP's paper and those who helped compile
the two-page majority report for implying that traditional two-parent
families are the "ideal form."

"This insisting that this is the only acceptable form of families for which
we must all strive . . . (and) that all other forms of family are somehow
defective, what a terrible message to send," said Snyder, a former health
educator and guidance counselor in the Pennsylvania public school system.

Panel member Alan Wisdom, who directs Presbyterian Action, and helped write
the substitute policy, said the paper was never intended to put down
non-traditional families.

"Our intention is to help all families," he said.

The Rev. Tim Jessen of Mitchell, IN, attended the hearing on behalf of his
son, Chris, who as a Youth Advisory Delegate (YAD) to the National Issues
Committee supported the document that became the majority report. Jessen said
his son, who is away at college, wished the original paper had placed more
emphasis on marriage between a man and a woman and the role of traditional
families, like the one his son was raised in.

Jessen said his son also believes the paper could have gone further in
examining the importance of faithful marriage and the dire results of
adultery. "The paper that he (Chris) was handed, the commissioners were
handed, could have been a lot better," said Tim Jessen. "But it had serious
flaws and deficiencies."

He said the church should make a "world call" for strong affirmation of "our
traditional reformed Presbyterian view of marriage and family."

Megan Acedo, a college student from California and YAD on the National Issues
Committee at the 215th GA, also would like to see more emphasis placed on the
benefits of traditional families.

"I can see the benefits of the traditional family in my friends' lives as
opposed in mine," said Acedo, who was raised in a single-parent family.

She said she believes the original document needed strengthening "in terms of
theology" and lifting up the value of traditional two-parent families.

Acedo said her interpretation of ACSWP's paper was that it had an "anything
goes attitude" by describing any type of family as good and beneficial.

"My reaction to the original document was just kind of taking a step back,"
she said.

Landon Whitsitt of Louisville, a Theological Student Advisory Delegate (TSAD)
to the last Assembly, said he would like to see the paper's theological
section strengthened to lift up ways in which families can enjoy stronger
relationships.

He said: "My entire desire has been to say, 'Joe, Mary, if you want to be an
effective family, here's what we as the church, in a prophetic way, have to
say. This is what a family should do. This is what makes a family
effective.'"

The Changing Families Panel discussed a draft of a theological statement on
family - which was produced by the Office of Theology and Worship in July -
during the first day of the Sept. 23-24 meeting.

A variety of feedback was also emailed to ACSWP by more than 40 people, which
will be posted on the committee's Web site - www.pcusa.org/acswp - along with
the theological draft.

A writing team appointed by the panel will work on the revised draft and on
the full document over the next two months before the panel meets again in
December. Then the paper will be reviewed during ACSWP's January meeting
before going to GA next summer.

"I was very pleased with the hearing," Sulyok said. "I thought we had a
diversity of views expressed. People in the church care a lot about families
and want the best report this church can produce for strengthening families."

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