RICHMOND, June 29 - The Committee on Church Polity dealt with a long series of proposed amendments to the Book of Order and the General Assembly standing rules, considering 19 amendments, one of which had 11 parts.
The 11-part measure was proposed by the Independent Committee of Inquiry (ICI) that investigated sexual abuse by a former PC(USA) missionary in Congo. It proposes changes in the church's disciplinary process to ensure that any such incidents in the future are handled appropriately and with dispatch. Ten of the 11 proposed changes were approved. The one that was not would have removed the word "honorably" from "honorably retired" in references to clergy members convicted of sexual abuse.
The committee added a long comment to one item, an apology for the church's handling of the Congo cases. |
