On Monday afternoon, most of the major Committees of Commissioners met to go over reports from Boards and Agencies, as well as the SuperCommittee of Commissioners, known as the Overtures Committee, that deals with most overtures.

Here is a breakdown of a few of the actions that were decided in the Overtures Committee.  It should be noted that the final report of the Committee of Commissioners takes place at the end of all their work, usually some time on Tuesday, so there may be additional information to report tomorrow.

The actions and the votes (when given)  have come to The Aquila Report through multiple sources, but we emphasize that these are all ‘word of mouth’ until the actual Committee of Commissioners report is signed and prepared for delivery to the General Assembly.

A.  Concerning OVERTURE 30 from Savannah River Presbytery “Amend BCO 58-5 Regarding Intinction”

The Committee on Constitution Business reported that:  “the citation of the proposed revised BCO 58-5 quotes from the BCO prior to its revision in 2004 and therefore would conflict with the present BCO.”  While there is no way to determine the motivations for any vote, this decision may have had some bearing on the outcome

The Overtures Committee voted to answer the overture in the negative by a vote of 49 Yes, 37 No, 2 Abstain.  Informal word was received that a Minority Report may be forthcoming.

B. Pacific Northwest Presbytery had submitted several overtures seeking changes to the Book of Church Order:

OVERTURE 11:  “Amend BCO 20-3, 24-2, and 25-4 to Allow a Ruling Elder to Moderate a Congregational meeting, in a Church Not His Own, When Elected by That Congregation to Do So (in the Absence of Its Pastor)”

OVERTURE 12:  “Amend BCO 43-2 to Extend the Filing Period to Sixty Days for a Complaint to the Original Court”

OVERTURE 13:  “Amend BCO 43-3 to Change the Start of the Thirty-day Filing Period for a Complaint to the Next Higher Court”

OVERTURE 14:  “Amend BCO 42-4 to Change the Start of the Thirty-day Filing Period for an Appeal”

OVERTURE 15: “Amend BCO 31-2 to Clarify What Needs to Be Investigated”

OVERTURE 16:  “Amend BCO 32-2 to Clarify That a Preliminary Investigation Is Necessary Even When Charges Are Filed by an Individual”

OVERTURE 17: “Amend BCO 30-1, 30-3, and 37-1 regarding Definite Suspension from Office”

OVERTURE 18: “Amend BCO 34-1 and 33-1 to Clarify the Prerequisite, and Provide a More Reasonable Threshold, for the Assumption of Original Jurisdiction”

The Committee on Constitutional Business reported that none of these overtures were in conflict with the BCO, but called the attention of the Assembly to a number of logistic and administrative problems which could arise from adoption.

The Overtures Committee is recommending that some of these be sent back to Pacific Northwest Presbytery for further refinement.  Numbers 12, 13, and 14 concerning time requirements were passed with some minor changes for clarification.

C.       Overtures 10 (from Rocky Mountain Presbytery) and 29 (from Savannah River Presbytery) requested the General Assembly to reject all evolutionary views (including ‘theistic evolution’ of Adam’s origin and affirm his body and soul’s immediate creation by God.

Overture 26 (from Potomac Presbytery) asks General Assembly not to do this and gave (in part) the following rational:

“10th General Assembly of the PCA embraced this wisdom in adopting the following:  It would be unwise, improper, and unconstitutional for the General Assembly to determine abstractly apart from the proper processes afforded by our constitutional standards what would disqualify a man from holding office. . . . [A]s the result of proper judicial processes, judgments may be made [by the Assembly] which determinately interpret what may or may not be in accord with our standards. Any other procedure of setting forth or compiling a list of essential or nonessential doctrines would, in effect, amend the standards by an unconstitutional method”

“22nd General Assembly of the PCA reaffirmed this stance when it declared: Were this Assembly, in the abstract, to declare either more or less than the express statements of our Constitution, it could not in that declaration either add to, nor take away from, what is constitutional with respect to these doctrines and duties; nor could such a declaration infringe upon the right and responsibility of Sessions and Presbyteries to interpret and apply the Constitution as they see best, subject always to the procedures of review and control, complaint and appeal.”

“30th General Assembly of the PCA stated: The General Assembly cannot determine abstractly, apart from regular process, how he courts, which under our Constitution are charged with the duty of judging the qualifications of candidates, are to interpret the Constitution in the regular discharge of their own functions. To attempt to do so would be in effect to amend the Constitution by extra-constitutional methods.”

The Overtures Committee recommended denying Overtures 10 and 26, and approved Overture 20, and answered Overtures 10 and 16 by reference to this action (which has the effect of denying them).  The vote was 50-35-0.  Again, word has been received that a Minority Report is being prepared for submission to the General Assembly

@Copyright 2012 The Aquila Report – all rights reserved