[To cover the related events of today I thought it most appropriate to update this previous post and to place the new information here at the beginning. For the original article please jump down to the break.]
No dramatic build-up tonight — I will just jump straight to the unexpected news of the day:
Tara Spuhler McCabe, with all the controversy swirling around her, has resigned as the Vice-Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
At the beginning of the first post-committee plenary session the Moderator called upon Ms McCabe to make a statement. Thanks to Bruce Reyes-Chow for posting her complete statement. At the end of that statement she announced her resignation which was greeted by a chorus of “No” from many of the commissioners.
In her statement she says:
I am a pastor. That is who God has called me to be. As I reflect on
what’s happening now, I think I am embodying the reality of a growing
number of pastors who find ourselves caught. We are caught between being
pastors – being with couples in those sacred moments when they make
their vows to one another . . . and having a polity that restricts us
from living out our pastoral calling – especially in states where it is
legal for everyone to be married.
She continues
The tension over all of this is real, and clearly the energy and passion
about this issue runs deep – and isn’t going away. I am surprised and
saddened by the pervasive poisonous activity that has increased toward
the overall tenor of our General Assembly and toward the Office of the
Moderator. Individuals and groups with no personal relationship with me
and have made no attempt to have one-on-one conversations with me or the
Moderator are blogging and tweeting unhelpful and, frankly, divisive
comments.
In conclusion she said
So, bottom line: I care too much about this church and about this
assembly to let this situation continue. We have important work to do
here, and so let us get to what it is God called us here to do.
In response Moderator Presa said
It was with deep sadness that the stated clerk and I received this news. But as I listened to her, I was struck by her pastoral heart and her deep love for this church and General Assembly. It is clear that there are parties within the church
who would not let her split confirmation vote rest, who questioned her integrity and even the authenticity and veracity of our eleven-and-a-half year friendship. I absorbed those attacks and still stand by her while this pernicious poison reared its ugly head. And I have an even more steely determination to seek unity in the bonds of peace. I will deeply miss what could have been but am even more determined to seek the peace and unity of our Presbyterian family.
Then Moderator Presa announced that his selection for the new Vice-Moderator would be Teaching Elder Tom Trinidad from Colorado Springs.
Mr. Trinidad was elected in the evening session of the Assembly. But in the middle of his election process a commissioner made a motion to adjust the docket to add 20 minutes to talk about what had been going on that caused Ms McCabe to step down. (Technically, that is not what the commissioner moved but the ever-helpful Stated Clerk recast the motion into an appropriate form.)
When it came to a vote the proposed 20 minute discussion was defeated by a vote of 322 to 323.
Tom Trinidad was elected the Vice-Moderator with the support of 80% of the commissioners with 12% voting no and 8% abstaining.
To use Ms McCabe’s phrase – Clearly this has touched a nerve.
There is a pretty straight-forward story form the Presbyterian News Service. The story from the Presbyterian Outlook has a bit more context. And More Light Presbyterians has also issued a statement including a quote from their Executive Director Michael Adee:
We grieve that these personal attacks did not stop with that first
article. Rather, they escalated in person and online. It is a sad day
for the Presbyterian Church (USA) when some within it resort to nothing
less than ad hominem attacks and cyber-bullying. This is a sad day for
Christianity. This is a sad day for civility.
There has been a flood of supportive statements for Tara on Twitter and on Facebook.
I am expecting at least two things – First that there will be more reaction in the social media to these developments (Bruce has promised us something more and the StayPCUSA blog which published the open letter that was cited in the resignation comments has not published an update.) Second, I would not be surprised to see this raised in various references, direct and indirect, from the floor of the Assembly much like it was this afternoon.
But this also raises questions about how to best have a discussion about items legitimately related to a call while not letting them degrade into personal attacks or talking past each other in the public sphere.
We will see what develops and I will update here.
[Original post]
After the election of Tara Spuhler McCabe as Vice-Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Sunday afternoon I though that it would go down as a footnote for this Assembly and it would be remembered as a sore point. However when I got back to the Assembly today I found out that was not the case and it has become a bit of a lightning rod.
First the recap: As you may remember TE McCabe officiated at a same-gender marriage back in April. If you want more on that check out my summary from last week. In my writing yesterday about the Moderator election I added an update on this item.
Let me first add some detail to the election of the Vice-Moderator. When the item came up there was first a commissioner who asked if they could vote “No” on the nominee. The answer was that they could vote no and that if disapproved Moderator Presa would have to propose a new nominee. Another commissioner then asked whether the Assembly could discuss the nominee. The answer was no, the Standing Rules do not provide for debate on this nomination but it could happen by suspending the Standing Rules. The commissioner then moved to suspend the rules and that motion, requiring a 2/3 supermajority, failed with 55% voting yes. That it even garnered that much support is an interesting sign. The Assembly then proceeded to a vote and TE McCabe was approved 60% yes, 37% no and 3% abstain. She was then installed as Vice-Moderator.
Well, there were a few questioning comments on Twitter at the time but when I got to the convention center today and started talking with people I found that in some circles it was a non-event while in other circles it was still a very hot topic. A check on the web indicated the same thing.
So, if you want the news reports you can check out the official news story or the Presbyterian Outlook story.
One reaction was from a new group of evangelicals in the PC(USA) that have formed a group called StayPCUSA. They have issued an open letter requesting dialogue on this issue. One of the interesting lines in the letter is near the end where they say “See, most of us are pastors, and we would feel ill-at-ease accepting a call where 40% of the congregation voted “no”.” There is another commentary on the StayPCUSA blog from Jodi Craiglow, writing after the Moderator election but before the Vice-Moderator election. [UPDATE: There is a Twitter conversation suggesting that that the StayPCUSA folks have now sought out Tara in another communication channel, privately, and that they have apologized for jumping straight to the open letter.]
There are additional comments and commentary from
- More Light Presbyterians (also written between the elections)
- Mateen Elass
- David Fischler
- James Kim
- Jeff Gissing
There are a bunch more that mentioned this, with or without commentary, as part of their recap of the day.
As the Assembly committees got to work today a number of hot-button topics were discussed probably leaving this as just the opening controversy of this Assembly.