05 Jul GS 1995 art 51

Posted at 13:33h in CanRC, GS 1995 by

GS 1995 ARTICLE 51 – Women’s Participation in Election of Office Bearers

Committee II presents:

Agenda items VIII. E. 2, 4, 13

Majority Report:

I. MATERIAL

Letters from sr. C. VanEerden, the church at Burlington-South and the church at Langley.

II. ADMISSIBILITY

Synod declares the letters of sr. C. VanEerden and the churches at Burlington- South and Langley admissible because they present new grounds to reconsider a matter dealt with by a previous Synod (Art. 30 and 33 C.O.). Moreover, members have the right to request a revision of decisions by which they feel aggrieved (Art. 31 C.O.).

III. OBSERVATIONS

  • A. Sr. C. VanEerden requests “to re-establish a committee to study the new grounds and concerns pertaining to the place of women’s voting in the elections of office bearers.” She adduces as grounds
    • 1. the fact that this matter now lives in the churches as evidenced by the fact that it is discussed in her congregation of Burlington-South, Classis Ontario North of March and September 1991 and Clarion (in Clarion there are recent discussions about the decision of the Synod of Ommen to give voting to women);
    • 2. women’s voting is a matter which belongs to the churches in common.
  • B. The church at Burlington-South endorses the overture of sr. C. VanEerden calling attention especially to the “new grounds (Art. 30 C.O.) such as Synod Ommen’s recent decision in the Netherlands and that this issue lives in the churches.”
  • C. The church at Langley overtures Synod: “We believe that the Canadian Reformed Churches would be well served by a new committee studying the issue of women’s participation (especially single sisters and widows) in the voting and election of office bearers in the light of developments in the last twelve years. We request Synod Abbotsford (1995) to appoint such a committee.” The church at Langley outlines the developments by referring to the discussions of Synods 1977, 1980, 1983, 1986, the Synod of Ommen 1993 in the Netherlands and overtures to this Synod regarding the matter of women’s voting.
  • D. The Synod of Cloverdale 1983 gave the following grounds for its decision not to grant women’s voting and not to reappoint a committee on this matter:
    • 1. the obvious lack of consensus on this matter in the churches;
    • 2. the explanations of Scripture passages by the study committee are considered rather unusual and not generally accepted explanations;
    • 3. the Dutch sister churches judged that the submissiveness of women does not allow them an independent vote;
    • 4. various churches indicate that the “matter of ‘women’s voting rights’ does not live in the midst of the churches,” and that “granting voting rights would definitely cause great concern and even division.”

IV. CONSIDERATIONS

  • A. It is debatable whether the matter of women’s voting does or does not live within the churches.
  • B. Whether women’s voting would cause division in the churches is to be assessed by the Synod which is called to make a decision, and not by the Synod which appoints a study committee.
  • C. The decision of Synod Ommen in the matter of women’s voting takes away one essential ground of Synod Cloverdale which opens the way for reconsid- ering the matter of women’s voting (Art. 33 C.O.). It should be noted that the ecclesiastical fellowship with the Dutch churches makes it desirable to consid- er this change in their voting practices.

V. RECOMMENDATION

Synod decide

To grant the request to appoint a committee to study the issue of women’s partici- pation in the voting and election of office bearers with the following mandate:

  • A. to make use of previous reports of study committees on women’s voting;
  • B. to evaluate the decision of the Synod of Ommen in the Netherlands on this matter;
  • C. to serve General Synod 1998 with a report, to be sent to the churches at least six months prior to the beginning of the next General Synod.

DEFEATED

Minority Report:

Committee II presents:

Agenda items VIII. E. 2, 4, 13

I. MATERIAL

Letters from sr. C. VanEerden, the church at Burlington-South and the church at Langley, requesting Synod to re-establish a committee to study the new grounds and concerns pertaining to the place of women’s voting in the election of office bearers.

II. ADMISSIBILITY

Synod declares these requests inadmissible on the grounds:

  • A. that according to Art. 33 C.O. matters once decided upon may not be pro- posed again unless they are substantiated by new grounds;
  • B. a new matter which has not been previously presented to that major assem- bly may be put on the agenda only when the minor assembly has dealt with it (Art. 30 C.O.).

ADOPTED

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