Marathon Day (aka – Slogging Through Overtures) – Part 1

Today was a day with many hot button issues on the docket (agenda), so here are my brief (I hope) views on some of the big actions of the day:

• The parliamentary excitement started early today as we considered a “Motion to Reconsider” all actions answered by Item 12-12 last evening. And, only 40% of commissioners voted to approve the motion to reconsider so our actions from yesterday stand unchanged.
• Passed – Item 14-07 “On Iraq.” – an amendment attempted to include language from the original overture related to directing the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) to study the relation to expenses in Iraq & Afghanistan and the impact on the US economy. In the end this amendment (as was the text in the original overture) was defeated.
• Passed – Item 14-03 “MRTI Report of Its Engagement with Corporations Involved in Israel, Gaza, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank.” – the report deals with several companies, but this item is close to home since there is a Caterpillar plant in Lafayette and members of the congregation are directly or indirectly employed by them. Carol McDonald (Co-Executive of the Synod of Lincoln Trails and former moderator of the Presbytery of Wabash Valley) made a very strong presentation about the impact within the synod of Caterpillar and their employees.
• Answered with action on Item 14-03 – Item 14-01 & 14-02 “On Divestment from Caterpillar, Inc.” – an amendment was made to divest the PC(USA) from Caterpillar and the amendment was overwhelming defeated by the GA (71% against). Interestingly, a YAAD (Young Adult Advisory Delegate) who was on the committee said that pastors from the Peoria area said that from their perspective while it would hurt, divestment was a better option from their perspective than continued denouncements every 2 years. Though an Elder Commissioner from Great Rivers Presbytery (where Caterpillar is headquartered) said that she was against all attempts to divest and denounce because Caterpillar has no control over what end users use their products for.
• Passed – Item 14-08 “`Breaking Down the Walls’—From the Middle East Study Committee.” – after HEAVY amending during committee the updated report (with large sections now removed and/or changed) was discussed and approved overwhelmingly during plenary today.
• Passed – Item 18-06 “On Directing the Board of Pensions to Extend Benefits to Same-Gender Spouses and Domestic Partners.” – I asked another question today because the way that people were talking about an up to 1% increase in Board of Pensions dues would be thousands of dollars more per year. The reality is that for someone making $30,000 that would be a dues increase of $300 per year and I wanted everyone to hear from someone at the Board of Pensions that the number is really that small. I felt silly asking the question (and I hope it did not come off as flippant) but people were making it sound like this would be thousands of dollars extra a year that would be breaking the bank.
• Passed – Item 05-04 “On Amending G-11.0407 and G-4.0560, and Adding a New G-11.0408b. Regarding Commissioned Lay Pastors.” – It was a surprise to me that with no debate or amendments the efforts to expand the role of CLPs (Commissioned Lay Pastors) within the PC(USA) was disapproved.

Things got interesting this afternoon when a protest group moved on to the assembly floor and disrupted the work of the assembly. The group carried signs and moved to the front of the assembly and stood. The Moderator handled things very well and paused discussion as we joined in a hymn and then she lead us in a prayer before placing us in recess until the protestors were peacefully escorted out by a police officer.

After the protest and impromptu break we returned to our discussion of Item 05-21 “Responsibility of General Assembly to Provide Authoritative Interpretations of Book of Order (G-13.0103r)” which after a lot of debate on polity issues was approved as amended. And, we were all granted the unofficial title of “polity wonk” by the Moderator.

On a side note the: congratulations to Rev. Carol McDonald on being named to the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) by the General Assembly Nominating Committee (GANC) and being approved by the GA. While there were many people nominated to serve the larger church at the GA level, it was neat to have a friend on the list of nominations we approved!