Bishop Johnson requests retirement; Northeast could elect six
bishops
Jul. 13,
2004 News media contact: Stephen Drachler * (615) 7425411*
Nashville {04295}
By United
Methodist News Service
Delegates
arriving for the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference were
surprised to learn that the number of bishops they have to elect may
increase by one.
The 288 delegates
to the July 12-16 jurisdictional gathering may elect six bishops
instead of five, as a result of the pending early retirement of
Bishop Alfred Johnson of the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference.
Johnson, in a
July 9 letter to the episcopacy committee of the Northeastern
Jurisdiction, requested "early retirement from his role of bishop of
the United Methodist Church," because he "is the subject of an
allegation that was made at the end of April."
Ernest Swigget,
chairperson of the jurisdiction's episcopacy committee, said that
although Johnson has requested early retirement, church law requires
the approval of the jurisdictional conference.
"We expect that
members of the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference will consider
his request on Wednesday, July 14," Swiggett said in a July 13
statement. "Should Bishop Johnson's request be approved, the members
of the conference will elect six bishops instead of five."
The meeting of
the Northeastern Jurisdiction and four other jurisdictional
conferences are being held concurrently in the United States to
elect 20 new bishops and to assign all active U.S. bishops to
geographic areas. If Johnson's request is approved, there will be 21
elected.
After an 8:30
a.m. communion service, the first full session of the Northeastern
Jurisdictional Conference will convene at 10:30 a.m. on July 14.
Balloting will begin then and continue at intervals through July 15
until all bishops are elected.
During the final
business session at 8:30 a.m., July 16, the assignment of bishops to
episcopal areas will be announced. The new bishops will be
consecrated in a service that morning beginning at 11:15 a.m.
The newly elected
bishops will take office on Sept. 1 and fill vacancies left by the
retiring bishops in the jurisdiction. Bishops are charged by the
church's Book of Discipline to "lead and oversee the spiritual and
temporal affairs" of the church and to "guard, transmit, teach, and
proclaim, corporately and individually, the apostolic faith as it is
expressed in Scripture and tradition, and, as they are led and
endowed by the Spirit, to interpret that faith evangelically and
prophetically."
Bishops in the
United Methodist Church may seek early retirement after 20 years of
ministerial service and four years of service as a bishop. A
bishop's retirement request first goes to the president of the
Council of Bishops, who informs the jurisdiction's committee on the
episcopacy of the request. The committee presents the request to the
jurisdictional conference, which acts on it.
In his letter,
Johnson informed the jurisdictional conference that while a
complaint has been filed against him, "Please know that I do not
intend nor expect the complaint process to be circumvented by the
granting of this request.
"I do, however,
believe that it is in my best interest and that of the church to
move forward. It will also allow me to more effectively continue the
process of the complaint without the pressure of an imminent
reassignment and to hopefully move on with my life anew."
The denomination
has a clear and distinctive process for dealing with complaints
against bishops. The process, different from a civil judicial
process, is based on a covenant with God and the broader community.
Bishops, like all ordained clergy, have a "sacred trust." Whenever
an allegation is brought against a bishop, the church has policies
and procedures for considering the complaint.
According to
Swiggett, "Even in retirement, Bishop Johnson will remain subject to
church law. Church law requires that this stage of the proceeding,
called a supervisory process, remain confidential. This process is
designed to seek a just resolution to the complaint. If a just
resolution is not reached, the complaint will be referred to the
Northeastern Jurisdiction's Committee on Investigation."
The United
Methodist Book of Discipline notes that if a just resolution cannot
be reached and the committee determines reasonable grounds exist to
warrant a formal charge, it may refer the matter for a church trial.
News media
contact: Stephen Drachler, director of public information, United
Methodist Communications, (615) 456-4710.
