Monday, June 22nd, 2026
Hello from a proud Presbyterian!
Catherine Craley, here! I just finished up my first day of online committee meetings, and it was a great experience. We started the day at 9:00 a.m. EST with an opening worship zoom for the whole assembly. This worship service included greetings from our co-moderators who will be guiding us throughout the General Assembly. I feel like we are in good hands with Rev. Cecelia Armstrong & Rev. Tony Larson who were both very capable leaders but also quite funny! At one point while they were waiting for all our online votes to come in, Rev. Tony suggested someone play the Jeopardy theme song during the awkward silence, to which Rev. Cece said… “it’s under copyright. They will just have to hum a hymn!!” We all laughed. You can learn more about our Moderators, who were elected by the last General Assembly, here: https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/church-structure/general-assembly/co-moderators-general-assembly
At 10:00 a.m. our committee meetings started online. This is where I spent the rest of my day, on Zoom with 80 other people and a whole bunch of snacks! My committee’s topic was World Mission, which means we reviewed resolutions coming to the G.A. dealing with World Mission. About 50 of the people on my committee Zoom were voting delegates…pastors and elders from all around the country. The “zoom room” also included my committee moderator and vice-moderator, a parliamentarian who kept us in good and decent order, a tech person and lots of PCUSA staff people and resource people (like college professors or mission co-workers) who answered questions of all kinds as they came up.
While my committee ended our work for the day at 5:30 p.m. Shenango’s voting Elder, Judy Book from New Wilmington Presbyterian (also my mom!), was busy in her committee meetings until nearly 10:00 p.m. She is on the committee dealing with questions about theological education and ordination. Judy said there was a lot of conversation around the nuances of language, the “shalls” and “shoulds,” in a task force report on theological education. She still has a long docket of resolutions to review ahead of her!
On both of our committees, everything was done thoughtfully, faithfully, decently and in order. We both had wonderful committee moderators who fulfilled their calling well. I got to hear thoughtful comments from wise elders, Young Adult Delegates, and everyone in-between. When I signed off my Zoom at 5:30 p.m. I was proud to be a Presbyterian!
Thanks for your continued prayers for me and Judy as we head into two more days of committee meetings. They are felt and appreciated.
Grace and Peace and Thanks, Shenango!
Catherine
This is what a GA committee meeting looks like in 2026