wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Membership named for two GA special committees

[newsservice <newsservice@PCUSA.ORG>]

You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS

email list of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

To ensure continued delivery, please add newsservice@pcusa.org
to your address book or safe senders list.

========================================

This story available online:

www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09084<http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2009/09084

Membership named for two GA special committees

Topics of study to include Heidelberg Catechism and Israel
Palestine

by Sharon Youngs

Communications Coordinator, Office of the General Assembly

LOUISVILLE - The membership of two General Assembly special
committees have been released, bringing the total of
special committees named by the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow,
moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  to three this week.

Reyes-Chow earlier named his appointees to the Assembly's
Special Committee to Study Issues of Civil Unions and
Christian Marriage.

All three special committees were formed out of actions of
the 218th General Assembly (2008), which met last summer in
San Jose, Calif.

>Heidelberg Catechism

The Special Committee on Correcting Translation Problems of
the Heidelberg Catechism will consider proposed changes to
the catechism made by last year's assembly. According to
the assembly action, the proposed changes revolve around
correcting "translation problems in five responses of the
Heidelberg Catechism as found in The Book of Confessions
and to add the original Scripture texts of the German
Heidelberg Catechism."

The Book of Order (G-18.0200) calls for a special committee
of no less than fifteen individuals to be formed when a
General Assembly proposes any changes to part of the
PC(USA) Constitution. The Heidelberg Catechism is in The
Book of Confessions, part of the Constitution.

The special committee will consider the proposed changes to
the catechism; consult with Newark Presbytery, which sent
the original overture to last year's assembly; and report
back to the 219th General Assembly (2010) in Minneapolis.

Minister members of the special committee chosen by
Reyes-Chow are the Revs. Heidi Husted Armstrong (Olympia
Presbytery), Warner M. Bailey (Grace Presbytery), Shelly
Barrick Parsons (West Virginia Presbytery), James R.
Edwards (Inland Northwest Presbytery), Christopher Elwood
(Mid-Kentucky Presbytery), Gary Neal Hansen (John Knox
Presbytery), Neal D. Presa (Elizabeth Presbytery), Lorna A.
Shoemaker (Redwoods Presbytery), David L. Stubbs (Lake
Michigan Presbytery), and Floretta L. Watkins (Charlotte
Presbytery)

Elders chosen for the panel are Dawn DeVries (James
Presbytery), Sylvia Dooling (Plains and Peaks Presbytery),
Susan N. Haskell (Sheppards and Lapsley Presbytery),
Patrick Hunt (San Francisco Presbytery), and David Mulford
(South Louisiana Presbytery).

The committee membership covers a spectrum of ages. Of the
fifteen, three are between the ages of 26-35, two are
between 36 and 45, four are between 46-55, six are between
56-65, and one is over 65 years old.

Presa will chair the committee. The Revs. Charles Wiley,
coordinator in Theology Worship and Education (General
Assembly Council), and Tom Hay, director of operations for
the Office of the General Assembly, will staff the group.

The committee will begin its work at the end of March.

>Israel Palestine

The 218th General Assembly (2008) also asked the Moderators
of the 218th, 217th, and 216th General Assemblies (2008),
(2006), and (2004) to "select a nine-member committee from
a broad spectrum of viewpoints from PC(USA) members to
prepare a comprehensive study, with recommendations, that
is focused on Israel/Palestine within the complex context
of the Middle East.

The Assembly said the study "should include an evaluation
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s mission and
relationships, including an assessment of the future for
the Christian presence and witness in the Middle East; an
overview of the complex interactions among religions,
cultures, and peoples that characterize the region; an
analysis of U.S. policies that impact the area; and steps
to be taken with our partners in the Middle East and the
United States to foster justice, improve interfaith
relations, and nurture the building of peace toward a
secure and viable future for all."

This Special Committee to Prepare a Comprehensive Study
Focused on Israel Palestine is also to report back to the
219th General Assembly (2010).

Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, Moderator of the 216th General
Assembly (2004), and the Rev. Joan Gray, Moderator of the
217th General Assembly (2006), joined Reyes-Chow in naming
the special committee's members.

Minister members are the Revs. Susan R. Andrews (Hudson
River Presbytery), John Huffman (Los Ranchos Presbytery),
Rebecca Reyes (New Hope Presbytery), Marthame Sanders
(Greater Atlanta Presbytery), Ronald L. Shive (Salem
Presbytery), and John W. Wimberly, Jr. (National Capital
Presbytery).

Elders serving on the panel are Frederic W. Bush (Los
Ranchos Presbytery), Nahida H. Gordon (Muskingum Valley
Presbytery), and Lucy Janjigian (Palisades Presbytery).

Staffing the committee will be the Rev. Christian Iosso,
coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness
Policy; the Rev. Victor Makari, coordinator for the Middle
East, Asia Minor and the Jinishian Memorial Program for the
General Assembly Council; Elder Doug Dicks, a PC(USA)
mission co-worker in Israel Palestine; and the Rev. Kerry
Clements, director of  Communication, Development, and
Technology for the  Office of the General Assembly.

========================================

You are currently subscribed to the PCUSANEWS

email list of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

To unsubscribe, send a blank message to

mailto:PCUSANEWS-unsubscribe-request@halak.pcusa.org.

To update your email address, send your old email address
and your new one to
mailto:PCUSANEWS-request@halak.pcusa.org.

>For questions or comments, send an email to
>mailto:PCUSANEWS-request@halak.pcusa.org.

To learn more, visit http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/

>Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
>100 Witherspoon Street
>Louisville, KY 40202
>(888) 728-7228