c. 2003 Religion News Service
Methodists Propose Cutting Number of Bishops
(RNS) The United Methodist Church may have too many bishops, and trimming the number of prelates could save the church $1 million per bishop, according to the church’s finance agency.
A proposal to cut at least five bishops will be considered by next year’s General Conference meeting in Pittsburgh. Delegates to the meeting will vote on a four-year $586 million budget that includes a fund to support the work of church bishops.
The 8.4 million-member church currently has 50 bishops in the United States and 18 bishops in “central conferences” outside the United States. Bishops are elected to their posts by five regional U.S. jurisdictions.
The church’s Southeastern Jurisdiction, which covers an area from Virginia to Alabama, is growing enough to add another bishop in 2004 under a formula used to place bishops, according to United Methodist News Service.
The church’s General Council on Finance and Administration says an expected boost in retirements would make it easy to cut one bishop in each of the five jurisdictions. Each cut would save the church $1 million over four years in salary, benefits, travel and support staff costs. Conferences within each jurisdiction would likely be reconfigured under the plan.
“Every part of the church is being pressed to restructure and streamline,” said Sue Sherbrooke, a finance agency member from Seattle.
Some agency members, however, are concerned that regional conferences will not be able to adjust to fewer bishops. The change would take effect after elections next summer if General Conference approves the new formula.
“I’m not sure that even with advance notice this is possible that a jurisdiction can reorganize itself in two months,” said Robert Meyers, treasurer of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference. “It’s not only a matter of losing a bishop, it’s a matter that a jurisdiction is going to have to reorganize itself.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Arab-American Group Releases Voter Guide to Democratic Primary
(RNS) A national organization for Muslim and Arab Americans has released a voter guide to help people choose among the numerous Democratic presidential primary contenders.
The Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that works on civic and political issues, released the “2004 Voter Guide to the Democratic Presidential Candidates” on Sept. 12.
The guide, which the group says will be made available to more than 500,000 Arab-American voters in the U.S., focuses on candidates’ positions on the issues that are most important to the community.
These include civil liberties, especially focusing on candidates’ views of the Patriot Act, immigration and the candidates’ opinions on the Middle East and U.S.-Arab relations, including both the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq war.
The guide includes information on nine contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination. AAI leaders say the guide will hopefully focus debate on issues that are important to all Americans, not only Arab-Americans.
“The issues raised in our voter guide are of critical importance in the upcoming elections to all Americans, regardless of ethnic background,” said James Zogby, president of the AAI.
“The threat to civil liberties and continuing problems with American policy in the Middle East affects us all. We are issuing this guide in the hopes that it will help spur debate about the direction of our country at home and abroad,” he said.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Outspoken Liberal Bishop of Richmond, Va., Retires
(RNS) Pope John Paul II on Tuesday (Sept. 16) accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., one of the nation’s most liberal and most prominent anti-war bishops.
Sullivan resigned after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 last June. The pope named Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore as the interim administrator of the diocese, which covers three-fifths of the state.
Sullivan, who was ordained in Richmond in 1953, was named auxiliary bishop of the diocese in 1970 and bishop in 1974. He is the former president of Pax Christi USA, the national Catholic peace movement.
Earlier this year, Pax Christi USA named Sullivan an “Ambassador of Peace,” the group’s highest honor.
“In Bishop Sullivan Pax Christi has had a true and lasting friend who has guided us in the work of peace and justice for many years,” Pax Christi spokesman Johnny Zokovitch said. “He’s been a prophetic voice challenging both the church and Christians across our nation to live out the gospel.”
In his 29 years as bishop, Sullivan built a reputation as one of the last remaining liberal bishops. In 1976, he was the first bishop to create an offices for gay Catholics. “The word Catholic means there’s room for everyone,” he said after a June retirement party, according to the Associated Press. “We are united in our different cultures by our common faith.”
He was often critical of U.S. military involvement, positions that landed him in controversy in a state with a heavy military presence. He is also an outspoken critic of the death penalty and nuclear weapons.
“I don’t have all the answers, and that’s what’s made it so interesting and challenging,” he told the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot in June. “You have to be open to change, new ideas, new relationships.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
University of Indianapolis to Open Branch Campus in Israel
INDIANAPOLIS (RNS) The University of Indianapolis is helping to create Israel’s first Christian-Arab-Israeli college.
According to Mary Moore, a vice president at the United Methodist college recent accreditation by Israel’s Committee for Higher Education will allow the school to launch three baccalaureate programs in Ibillin, Galilee, in the fall. She said the Indiana institution will work with the Rev. Dr. Elias Chacour’s Mar Elias Educational Institutions _ independent elementary and secondary education programs _ and will create the new Mar Elias University campus. Degree programs in computer science, environmental science and chemistry, and communications will be offered initially.
Chacour, a Melkite Catholic priest and bishop-elect of Jerusalem and Palestine, is expected to visit Indianapolis in November to create awareness
for the new campus.
The Mar Elias campus is the third project by the Indiana school into the Mediterranean region. For several years, the University of Indianapolis has offered exchange programs and off-shore campus experiences in Athens and Cyprus.
Moore said the Galilee project will provide the first-ever academic atmosphere in that region that invites serious scholarship for Christians, Arabs and Israelis studying together. She added the Galilee region was chosen as the home for the project because of Mar Elias’ track record at providing quality educational opportunities there and because the area has a history of cooperation between peoples.
“An especially exciting aspect to this partnership is the opportunity it
will provide for our students to interact more closely with students from a very complicated region of the world,” she said. “This takes the Middle East off the front page of newspapers and into the lives of our students.”
_ Dennis P. O’Connor
Central Baptist Theological Seminary President Retires
(RNS) The Rev. Thomas E. Clifton, president of Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has announced his decision to retire.
Clifton, the ninth president of the theological school founded in 1901, will retire effective Dec. 31, the American Baptist News Service reported.
The Kansas City, Kan., school is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA.
Clifton, who served as president for 10 years, is a member of the denomination’s General Board and has served as president of the American Baptist Association of Seminary Administrators.
He previously served as a pastor in Indiana, New York, North Carolina and Ohio.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Arthur Price Jr. of Birmingham, Ala.
(RNS) “We’re very intentional about the fact we’re here to worship the Lord. Before 1963, this church was here for 90 years. What happened here is an attraction. But for us, it is not the attraction.”
_ The Rev. Arthur Price Jr., pastor of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, which 40 years ago on Sept. 15, 1963, was struck by a bomb. Two former Ku Klux Klansmen were recently convicted for the crime, which caused the death of four black girls. Price was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA END RNS
