13 Jul GS 1995 art 109
GS 1995 ARTICLE 109 – Appeals Burlington-East and Fergus re: Synod 1992, Art. 131
Committee IV presents:
Agenda item: VIII. A. 2, 3
I. MATERIAL
- A. Letter from the church at Fergus re: publication of confidential acts
- B. Letter from the church at Burlington-East re: same
II. OBSERVATIONS
- A. The church at Fergus requests Synod discontinue the practice of publishing confidential acts of Synod separately because they feel issuing two types of Acts creates many questions and is not edifying.
- B. The church at Burlington-East appeals the decision of General Synod 1992, Art. 131 “to remove from the Acts the Observations and Considerations because of their confidential character.” Burlington-East request Synod to judge
- 1. the removal of Observations and Considerations is unwarranted and does not serve the well-being of the churches;
- 2. the removal of this section leads to secrecy while the churches are only served when the decisions recorded in the Acts are substantiated by Observations and Consideration and open for scrutiny;
- 3. the deleted section should as yet be published for the good of the churches;
- 4. all Observations and Considerations of General Synods be published in the Acts of Synod.
III. CONSIDERATIONS
- A. Synod 1992 did not make a general ruling about the printing of confidential acts but very specifically made a decision about the publication of Article 68.
- B. The statements “the removal of this section leads to secrecy” and “the churches are only served when the decisions recorded in the Acts are substantiated by Observations and Consideration and open for scrutiny” are untenable. The publication of separate confidential acts protects the reputation of the parties involved. Moreover, the Acts can be scrutinized because two copies of the Confidential Acts were sent to every church.
IV. RECOMMENDATION
Synod decide not to accede to the requests of the churches at Burlington-East and Fergus.