Almeida Penicela, Mozambique's second bishop, dies at 74
5/16/2003 News media contact: Linda Green · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn By United Methodist News Service United
Methodist Bishop Almeida Penicela, 74, the second bishop of the United
Methodist Church in Mozambique, died May 11, after a long illness.
Penicela
was elected bishop by the Africa Central Conference in 1976. Before he
could be consecrated, he was injured in an automobile accident and
hospitalized in Africa and Switzerland for many months, leaving him a
paraplegic. He was consecrated in 1977 and took over administrative
duties for the church's Mozambique Area.
His health forced him to
retire from active duty in 1988 but not before signing the first formal
"covenant document" between the denomination and Mozambique. That
agreement was signed with the Missouri annual conferences during the
1988 General Conference in St. Louis.
The former Missouri East
Conference had a relationship with Mozambique going back to the late
1980s. Bishop Ann B. Sherer became directly involved with Mozambique
during the mid-'90s. She made the country the focus of an area
initiative and sought covenant churches for every pastor in Mozambique.
This was accomplished at the 1999 sessions of the former Missouri East
and West annual conferences. The Missouri congregations - now part of
the consolidated Missouri Annual Conference - have provided resources
and support in many ways since then.
Other annual conferences have also developed relationships with the Mozambique church over the years.
Despite
his illness, Penicela continued contributing to the United Methodist
Church. He was a noted linguist and an authority on several Mozambican
languages, and he translated many works from English to Portuguese for
use by the church in Mozambique and other parts of Africa. He also
translated the denomination's Book of Discipline and the Bible into the
local language of the people who live around the Chicuque Mission, a
United Methodist-related ministry in his country. The bishop had lived
near Chicuque since the accident, and the mission's hospital had
assisted in his care.
"What struck me most when I visited in
Bishop Penicela's home was his ongoing commitment to ministry," Sherer
said. "Though he was limited to his hospital bed or wheelchair, he never
stopped trying to serve the church and used his gifts where he was."
Calling
Penicela an "inspiring man," Sherer said that "he remained hopeful,
cheerful and committed to the church," despite all he'd been through.
She would leave his home "encouraged in my own ministry, as would other
visitors from around the world who came to share with him."
A native of Maxixe, Inhambane, Mozambique, Penicela became an ordained member of the Mozambique Annual Conference in 1968.
The
bishop's wife, Angelina Joaquim Garrine Penicela, died five years ago.
They were married in 1957. Four children survive them.
The
funeral service was held May 13 at Chicuque, drawing more than 3,000
people. A memorial service will be held May 17. Burial will be at the
Chicuque Mission Cemetery.
Messages of caring may be sent through
Maria Helena Feluane, secretary to current Bishop Joao Somane Machado,
at umcmho@zebra.uem.mz.
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