GA06054

Committee recommends keeping "fidelity-chastity" provision in constitution

Assembly commissioners will take up matter in plenary

by Evan Silverstein

BIRMINGHAM, June 17 — Following a round of civil debate, the 217th General Assembly Committee on Church Orders voted narrowly Saturday to recommend leaving the "fidelity-chastity" ordination standard in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) constitution.

The committee’s 30-28 vote recommended disapproval of an overture from Heartland Presbytery that sought to delete G-6.0106b from the Book of Order. The provision requires "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness."

The vote was conducted by paper ballot. The recommendation now goes before the full Assembly.

The Rev. Michael Capron, commissioner from Genesee Valley Presbytery, said he believed disapproving the overture, which could have been the first step toward ordaining non-celibate homosexuals, was the right move.

"I believe we are called to uphold a traditional standard, unless there is a vast moving of the Spirit that so far I have not personally felt or heard," he said.

The Rev. Karen Akin of Arkansas Presbytery, the committee’s moderator, asked for a moment of silence before commissioners cast their votes. She led the crowd in singing "Amazing Grace" while the votes were being counted.