Bishop Ralph Dodge, who led church in Zimbabwe, dead at 101
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Bishop Ralph Edward Dodge
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A UMNS Report
By Tim Tanton*
Aug. 11, 2008
Bishop Ralph Edward Dodge, The United Methodist Church’s last white
bishop in Zimbabwe and an outspoken advocate for justice during that
country’s colonial era, has died. He was 101.
Dodge died Aug. 8 under hospice care in a private home in Inverness,
Fla., according to his son, Dr. Ralph Edward “Ed” Dodge Jr. The bishop
had been living in Inverness, and was surrounded by family and friends
when he died.
“He was a remarkable man,” Ed Dodge said. Though well educated, he was a
simple man who “always retained his simplicity and focus on every
person that he met,” the bishop’s son said.
Dodge’s 1956 election as a Methodist bishop for central and southern
Africa marked the only time that an American Methodist missionary was
elected bishop by the denomination in the colonial territories of
Angola, Mozambique, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Zaire (now the
Democratic Republic of Congo).
He led the church in Rhodesia for eight years before being expelled in
1964. He had long advocated for an inclusive church and representative
rule in the white-minority-led country. The government of Prime Minister
Ian Smith gave no reason for expelling him from the country. He was
re-elected in exile and served another four years.
“The reason I was expelled,” he said in a 1997 story by United Methodist
News Service, “was that I had written a book that criticized the church
on racial matters and said the church should be preparing to take over
or train (indigenous) people to take over responsibilities. The
assumption was that if the church could prepare people to take over,
then why couldn’t the government do the same thing? There was the
assumption that the time had come for a transfer of authority … and the
government did not like this.”
In 1979, Bishop Abel T. Muzorewa, the first black United Methodist
bishop of Zimbabwe, asked for Dodge’s return to lead the church in
Zimbabwe to enable Muzorewa to serve as his country’s first black prime
minister.
Muzorewa had served under Dodge as a young pastor. In his 1978 book, Rise Up and Walk, Muzorewa recalled his impressions of the bishop:
“In former years, missionaries and African Church workers ate in
separate dining rooms during church conferences, only joining together
for worship and discussions. Saying nothing, Bishop and Mrs. Dodge
merely went to eat with the African ministers and laymen. One day, the
annual conference delegates were going to the dedication of a new
church. Missionaries jumped into their cars while Africans boarded a
hired bus. Many were embarrassed as the bishop boarded the bus with his
African pastors.” Old patterns of segregation in the church were
breaking down, Muzorewa wrote.
Early years
A native of Terril, Iowa, Dodge attended Taylor University in Upland,
Ind., and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1931. He received a
master of arts degree from Boston University in 1933 and a bachelor of
sacred theology degree in 1934. Shortly afterward, he married the former
Eunice Davis of Little Valley, N.Y., in a home wedding.
Ordained a deacon in 1933 and an elder two years later, Dodge served briefly as a pastor in Mohall, N.D.
In 1936, the Dodges went to Angola to serve as missionaries. They were
there until 1950, except for a four-year period during World War II,
when travel restrictions prevented them from returning to Africa from a
furlough. While stateside, Dodge served as a pastor in East Longmeadow,
Mass., and continued his studies at the Kennedy School of Missions in
Hartford, Conn., where the couple had trained before going to Angola. He
earned a master of sacred theology degree in 1943 and a doctor of
philosophy degree in 1944.
The Dodges returned to Africa in 1945, and in 1950, Ralph Dodge was
asked to serve as secretary for Africa and Europe on the staff of the
Methodist Church’s Board of Missions.
Dodge was elected a bishop by the Africa Central Conference in October
1956 and assigned to the Rhodesia Area. He led Methodists in what were
then the countries of Southern Rhodesia, Angola, Mozambique and South
Africa. After his deportation in 1964, he continued leading the Rhodesia
Area in exile, primarily from Zambia. He also was given interim
responsibility for most of the church’s Geneva Area.
‘Nice to be back’
After retiring in 1968, he served as chaplain of the Mindolo
Ecumenical Foundation in Kitwe, Zambia. The Dodges moved to Springfield,
Mo., in 1971, and retired in 1980 to the Advent Christian Village of
Dowling Park, Fla. Two years later, Eunice Dodge died suddenly.
The Dodges had four children, all raised in Africa. In addition to Ed
Dodge, of Inverness, they are Lois Ann Stewart of Fernandina, Fla.;
Clifford Russell Dodge of South Sioux City, Neb.; and Margaret Jean
“Peg” Miller of Cottonwood, Ariz.
In late 1983, Bishop Dodge married Elizabeth Law. She died of a stroke in 1998.
In addition to his ministry career, Dodge wrote three books, The Unpopular Missionary, The Pagan Church and The Revolutionary Bishop.
His career came full circle, in a sense, when he was recognized during
the December 1997 centennial celebration of the church in Zimbabwe, held
in Old Mutare.
“It’s nice to be back,” he said in a UMNS story. “To see the development of the church is amazing, and it’s gratifying.”
While there, he also received an honorary doctorate of law degree from Africa University.
A memorial service will be at 3 p.m., Aug. 16, at the United Methodist
Church-Inverness, Fla. The bishop’s children have asked that in lieu of
flowers, memorial donations be made to the Bishop Ralph Dodge Library
Project in Zimunya, Zimbabwe, in the denomination’s Mutare District. The
library is an official project of the church in Zimbabwe. Donations may
be sent to the Rev. Kennedy Mukwindidza, Executive Director,
Compassionate Consultative Initiative Project-Zimbabwe, P.O. Box 427,
Quinter, KS 67752.
*Tanton is director of United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: Tim Tanton, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Bishop Ralph E. Dodge Library
Council of Bishops
Africa University
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