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Resolutions Speak Out On Springfield Schools, Sudan,  Federal Budget, The Environment And World Debt

By Tiffany Vail, Associate for Communication and Communication Technologies

August/September 2005

Delegates and clergy spoke out on issues near and far – from the effect of the budget crisis in Springfield on schoolchildren there, to the effect of the federal budget process on the poor, to the suffering of the people of the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Responding to an urgent appeal by members of the Old First Church, United Church of Christ, in Springfield, delegates approved an unusual “emergency resolution” which encourages the 90,000 United Church of Christ members in the state to contact their legislators about the “deplorable way that the control board is dealing with the Springfield school system.” The resolution also calls on UCC churches to “pray for the health and vitality of all our school systems, and especially the school system in Springfield.”

According to the resolution, school budget cuts – enacted by a state Financial Control Board –  have left students without the most essential supplies and resources, including paper and up-to-date textbooks, and have forced the elimination of more than 300 teaching positions and more than 200 paraprofessional positions.

Some delegates expressed reluctance about approving the timing of the resolution, saying that because it was not submitted in advance delegates did not have a chance to discuss it at a hearing or to study it in advance. Others worried about the tone of the resolution.

Denise Karuth, of First Church of Christ in Northampton, urged delegates to trust in the resolution’s proposers. “We have to be willing to listen to the cries of our brothers and sisters. These are people we know and love,” she said.

Peter Wells, Associate Conference Minister in the Western Area, spoke out emotionally in favor of the resolution. “The tone may be a little strong, but the situation is extreme,” he said. “These are our children.”

In other business, the gathered delegates approved resolutions that:

• Call on church leaders to influence the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to support the restoration of just and necessary taxes and to oppose cuts in programs that hurt the poor; and to work with the Massachusetts Governor and State legislators to ease the burdens of poverty in the state, with the goal of lifting everyone out of poverty;
• Call on the Sudanese government to cease hostile actions against civilians, to end support for militant groups committing violence, and to engage immediately in efforts to end the crisis in Darfur;
• Call for support by United Church of Christ members across the country to agree to initiate programs to increase awareness of “our interaction with the natural world, indigenous communities, eco-justice and environmental racism and its consequences” as well as to promote “the study of our Biblical and historical heritage of caring about the environment;”
• Call for members to contact their Congressional representatives in support of the Jubilee Bill now in Congress, and to contact the US President and the Presidents of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in support of a 100 percent “write off” of external debts owed to countries and institutions.

The delegates also approved resolutions encouraging church members to contribute their “time, talent and treasure” to advance Christ’s mission as lived out in the local church, and establishing clergy compensation guidelines for UCC clergy.

The guidelines were amended from previous years to state that local pastors should take at least two days off per week, instead of 1.5 days.

The full text of the resolutions as approved is available on the Conference Web site at www.macucc.org/news.