By Heather Hahn*
The
agency charged with monitoring racial matters in The United Methodist Church is
expressing concern prompted by the situation involving Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe,
an African-American bishop who says he is being pressured to retire. The United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race said that Bledsoe, who oversees the North Texas Annual (regional) Conference, is not making an allegation of racial discrimination, and thus the agency will not pursue the matter on his behalf.
However, the commission said in an open letter to top agency executives that Bledsoe’s case raises “several denominational issues” that the commission must address. The commission’s letter was signed by Erin Hawkins, the commission’s top executive; Wisconsin Area Bishop Linda Lee, its president; and Phoenix Area Bishop Minerva Carcaño, its vice president.
The issues include the question of whether clergy at all levels of the church receive evaluations under “rigorous, consistent and commonly understood policies and processes,” the commission’s letter said.
“Weaknesses in
the system of evaluation can potentially make all clergy leaders regardless of
race or ethnicity, gender, age or cultural group vulnerable to inequitable or
discriminatory behavior and the church to legal action,” said the letter.
Bledsoe,
61 and in his fourth year as bishop, initially announced plans to retire in a video on June
1.
Days later, during the North Texas annual gathering, leaders of the
conference’s black caucuses introduced a resolution asking Bledsoe to
reconsider.On June 5, Bledsoe surprised many of the clergy and lay people gathered at the conference session when he declared that he was being forced out and he planned to fight. He said he made his decision after prayer and seeing the conference’s positive statistical data, which included a second consecutive year of increased worship attendance.
Late on June 8, the chair of the South Central Jurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy, which oversees Bledsoe, released a statement explaining why the panel asked Bledsoe to retire early.
“While having some skills as a spiritual leader, his administrative skills, relational skills, and style remain in question,” said the statement from Don House, the committee chair.
Under the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s law book, jurisdictional and central conference episcopacy committees can place a bishop in involuntary retirement by a two-thirds vote. The jurisdictional committees assign and evaluate U.S. bishops, and the central conference bodies do the same with bishops in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The Book of Discipline says a bishop can appeal a vote for involuntary retirement to the United Methodist Judicial Council, the denomination’s equivalent of the U.S. Supreme Court.'
The full text of the commission’s “Open Letter” concerning Bledsoe and the North Texas Annual (regional) Conference follows:
To the General Secretaries Table of The United
Methodist Church,
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The recent announcement of Bishop W. Earl Bledsoe’s intent to retire
and his subsequent decision to rescind that action has been a source of
significant discussion and concern in our denomination. As leaders of the
General Commission on Religion and Race (GCORR) we believe that due to the very
public nature of this situation involving an African American Bishop and the
fact that race has been raised in media reports as well as in a statement made
by Bishop Bledsoe during the recent North Texas Annual Conference session, that
it is necessary and appropriate for the agency to offer a reflection about what
role, if any GCORR might have regarding these matters.
Paragraph 2008 of the Book of Discipline of The
United Methodist Church, 2008 gives GCORR responsibility to:
· Provide channels of assistance to ensure that
ethnic and racial group members of The United Methodist Church will have equal
opportunity for service, representation and voice on every level of the
Church’s life and ministry.
· Review,
evaluate and assist agencies and institutions of the Church as they seek to
develop programs and policies to implement the mandate for racial
inclusiveness.
· Review,
investigate and conduct hearings where necessary, in response to written
allegations of violation of the Church’s policy of racial and ethnic
inclusiveness that have not been satisfactorily resolved in the annual
conference, any general agency or other institution of the Church.
· Provide
opportunities for multiracial and interethnic dialogue and meetings throughout
the Church.
· Provide
programs of sensitization and education at every level of the Church’s life on
the nature and meaning of racism-attitudinal, behavioral and institutional.
The leadership of GCORR has been in conversation
with Bishop Bledsoe. He has stated that he is not making an allegation of
racial discrimination and does not wish to pursue or to have the agency, on his
behalf, pursue this matter as racially motivated. It is the policy of the
Commission that any formal inquiry of racial discrimination led by the agency
requires the written consent of the person experiencing the alleged
discrimination. Therefore, GCORR will not be conducting an investigation
as outlined in paragraph 2008 of the Book of Discipline of The United Methodist
Church, 2008.
We do believe, however, that this situation raises
several denominational issues that the GCORR must give attention to:
1. The use of racially hostile language and
characterizations (often but not always made unintentionally) in response to
questions of race raised by communities of color.
2. The question of whether there are rigorous,
consistent and commonly understood policies and processes of evaluation for
clergy at all levels of the church including District Superintendents and
Bishops. Weaknesses in the system of evaluation can potentially make all clergy
leaders regardless of race or ethnicity, gender, age or cultural group
vulnerable to inequitable or discriminatory behavior and the church to legal
action.
3. The understanding that despite the many advances
made in the Church with regards to racial inclusion, strong racial divisions
still exist in The United Methodist Church. While these divisions may lie
below the surface of our awareness, they are still present and become apparent
and strongly felt when the Church engages in difficult conversations where
opinions and experiences differ along racial lines. These divisions are
generally, but not exclusively, observed as being most intense on the annual
conference and local church levels and not only include relationships between
the white community and people of color but amongst various communities of
color as well.
GCORR will be working diligently to respond to these
issues through direct communication, inquiry and partnerships with other
denominational entities that have mandates relevant to these matters. We
believe that our role is to provide ongoing education on the issue of race and
racism, to monitor and support the implementation of fair processes in the life
of the Church and to challenge and equip the Church at all levels to live as
the fully inclusive and just body of Christ consistent with the aforementioned
responsibilities given by the Book of Discipline of The United Methodist
Church, 2008.
We are aware that leaders of National Black Methodists
for Church Renewal, Inc. (BMCR) have also been in conversation with Bishop
Bledsoe and are reviewing this matter in light of the mission of that
organization.
We respect the role of the racial ethnic caucuses and believe that it is important to note that GCORR’s continuing emphasis will be to focus on the responsibilities given to it as an agency of the whole Church.
We respect the role of the racial ethnic caucuses and believe that it is important to note that GCORR’s continuing emphasis will be to focus on the responsibilities given to it as an agency of the whole Church.
Let us continue to pray for all of the people of
North Texas Conference including the Conference Episcopacy Committee, the
Jurisdictional Episcopacy Committee and Bishop Bledsoe and his family during
this painful time.
Bishop
Linda Lee
President,
GCORR
Erin
Hawkins
General
Secretary, GCORR
Bishop
Minerva Carcaño
Vice
President, GCORR
News media contact: Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
The statement from the letter above:
ReplyDelete"The understanding that despite the many advances made in the Church with regards to racial inclusion, strong racial divisions still exist in The United Methodist Church. While these divisions may lie below the surface of our awareness, they are still present and become apparent and strongly felt when the Church engages in difficult conversations where opinions and experiences differ along racial lines."
This statement probably represents the issue. Bishop Bledsoe is humble, to deny that his dismissal is racist, but as an elder white lay person who has worked in communities both white and black, I suspect that the different style of leadership of the black culture and the conscious or unconscious racism of the white congregants is at the heart of this issue.
If Bishop Bledsoe and everyone agrees that race is not an issue, then what are we talking about here?
ReplyDeleteIf we're talking about accountability and effectiveness, then how are we measuring Bishop Carcano on those yardsticks? Has her conference been growing or shrinking? Has her conference become measurably more diverse? Has her conference been paying its general church apportionments? How many other bishops in the USA spend more time and have more travel expenses for travel outside their jurisdiction (much less their conference)?
None of this is an attack, but a point that we all have feet of clay and fall short of His perfection.
It is ironic if people are going to complain about being judged by emperical measurements then complain about the possibility of being judged by subjective measurements. It seems the real issue is being judged!
Perhaps all clergy are vulnerable; however, none are as vulnerable as those who are seen as "other" by those conducting the evaluations. Relational style, communication and other matters are judged subjectively, normalizing the "white" way and either diminishing or demonizing the ways of other cultures as lacking. This continues in local churches and cabinets all the time. The lack of equity in this denomination is startling. You reap what you sow. And chickens do come home to roost.
ReplyDeleteBishop Bledsoe has inflicted pain on the North Texas Conference. Through this pain there is opportunity for reform of clergy evalutions. We must all love each other better too. God is really in charge though.
ReplyDeleteAs United Methodists in the North Texas Conference, it makes sense to initiate a reformation regarding race and poverty. Why? We must eliminate all barriers that keep all God's people from achieiving their potential.
So, let's look at a conference that had 43,979 members in 2004 and has declined to 37,851 in 2010--a 13.9% decline which puts the conference in the "top third" of membership loss. The conference is still over 90% white. The number of Hispanic members has increased by only 146 in six years. The conference has one of the lowest (if not the lowest) number of charges in the USA, so supervision is a lighter burden.
ReplyDeleteWould that bishop be considered successful? Should there be any changes?
We could look at another conference. The membership decline of over 13% puts it in the bottom third of conferences since 2004. It is still over 90% white after the first six years with a Latina bishop. The absolute number of Hispanic members has increased by less than 200. The episcopal area has one of the smallest (if not the smallest) number of charges in the whole USA. The bishop also says that our African brothers and sisters need to "grow up." Before she joins in an attack on a process, perhaps she should be looking at the plank in her eye first?
ReplyDeleteThere are a series of questions asked on the various questionnaires that South Central uses. It would be helpful if Bishop Bledsoe agreed to release his responses to the questionnaire.
We need to start making decisions based on merit rather than what the people involved look like.