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| For reports and reflections
from the
1999 General Assembly, click here. |
|
 | Jane Hanna offers information and a resource list on the
campaign for Jubilee 2000, a world-wide
effort to influence creditor nations to forgive the paralyzing debts that
hold down progress and dim hopes for many debtor nations.
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| Dr. Barbara Wheeler, President of Auburn Seminary in New
York, offered some very helpful reflections on the 75th anniversary of the
Auburn Affirmation. She suggests that it provides lessons for the
Presbyterian Church today as we struggle again with our own version of
"fundamentalist-modernist" tensions. Click
here to visit the Auburn Seminary website and read her paper.
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| Recent reports on judicial
cases in the Synod of the Northeast indicate some "wins" and
some "losses" for an inclusive clergy and ordination.
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| The Covenant Network, a group dedicated
to eliminating "G-6.0106b" (which in effect rules more strongly
than ever before against the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people from
ordained leadership) from the Presbyterian Book of Order, while at the same
time working to preserve the unity of the Presbyterian Church, met in early
November in Atlanta. |
The leadership of the Network issued a statement pledging
their support for continued dialogue with groups on the right which are
working strongly to prevent the ordination of gay and lesbian people.
They also committed themselves to supporting and working for "Unity and
Diversity" conferences, as mandated by the 1999 General Assembly.
| Following the Covenant Network conference, the executive committee of the
Witherspoon Society held its fall meeting. Click
here to see a short report on some of the plans and decisions that were
made.
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| The New York-based Institute for Democracy Studies will soon issue a
study of the far-right groups that are seeking to gain control of the
Presbyterian Church (USA). We offer a summary of their press release,
along with a commentary by Witherspoon president Gene TeSelle.
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|  This past July, the Witherspoon Society sponsored a conference held at
Ghost Ranch in New Mexico, focusing on "Organizing
for Christian Economic Action." We offer here a brief report on
the event, along with a listing of resources and activist groups dealing
with issues of economic justice, both in the USA and around the world.
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The 1999 General Assembly is long past, and has
been reported thoroughly in many media, including the Witherspoon Network
News. One special Witherspoon event was the pre-Assembly
orientation, at which former Moderator John Fife offered insight (and hope!)
for our Church.
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Dr. J. Philip Wogaman, Senior Minister of
Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, DC, and former Professor of
Christian Social Ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, presented the
address at the Witherspoon Luncheon during the Assembly. Speaking with
the title of "Faith,
Politics, and Morality," he covered a lot of important ground, in
part reflecting on his experience serving as "pastor to the
President" and his family during President Bill Clinton's impeachment
hearings.
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| At the 1998 Assembly, the Far Right of the church focused its attacks on
the National Network of Presbyterian College Women. After a year-long
review of their program, the '99 Assembly approved of their work and
provided more funding for full-time staffing. We report here on an NNPCW
leadership conference which was held in Seattle last June.
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| With NNPCW having survived their attacks (and having gained many new
members through all the unsolicited publicity!), the Right has now turned
their attention to the Women's Ministries program as a whole. The work
of the Women's Ministries Program Area
is being subjected to review this year, and anyone who wants to speak up in
their defense is urged to do that!
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This page was last edited on
03/10/10 |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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