GA226 commissioner Lonna Lee, a teaching elder, moderates the Race, Sexuality, and Gender Justice committee’s meeting on June 25, 2024. Photo by Randy Hobson
GA226 commissioner Lonna Lee, a teaching elder, moderates the Race, Sexuality, and Gender Justice committee’s meeting on June 25, 2024. Photo by Randy Hobson.
The 226th General Assembly kicked off on schedule, with committees meeting on Zoom to begin their faithful work for the church.
The committee on Race, Sexuality, and Gender Justice convened mid-morning Mountain Daylight Time as the Moderator, the Rev. Lonna C. Lee from the Presbytery of the Great Rivers, called the meeting to order. After a centering worship brought commissioners together, work began with a presentation of the interim report of the Special Committee on the PC(USA) and Race, item RSG-Info-02.
After lunch the committee began learning about RSG-05, a recommendation of the Racial Equity Advocacy Committee (REAC), in solidarity with the Hispanic Latino Caucus. Several ministry areas and advocacy committees offered support for this resolution, which would offer a reimagining of recognizing the gifts and talents of the Latino-a-e diaspora to reimagine its place within the PC(USA), provide training and support, create a theological fund, and complete a study to determine the areas of pay equity and reparations that have not been addressed.
The committee spent most of its time on Tuesday discussing and crafting an alternate resolution in light of the complexity of the original resolution and the financial implications for the 2025 and 2026 budgets. Unification Commission Co-Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Felipe Martínez, suggested that the committee consider giving as much leeway as possible in terms of placing a dollar amount assigned to the various parts of the resolution, simply due to the fact that the commission is already addressing leadership training support in its unification work. Many commissioners lifted up the intersectionality of naming groups on the margin specifically, such as women, members of the LGTBQIA+ community, and the like, and Equity Primes Support Manager the Rev. Vanessa Hawkins concurred with the necessity of doing so. The committee will resume its work on the alternate resolution on Wednesday.
The moderator turned over leadership duties to Vice-Moderator Anthony Dawson of Foothills Presbytery to conclude the day’s work. Dawson led the group in approving RSG-06 which recommended the 226th General Assembly (2024) authorize a one-time adjustment in schedule so the equity and inclusion assessment scheduled for 2026 be delayed until 2028 after unification is completed and there is ample time to provide a thorough report. The motion passed 44-0.