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SEJ to share Bishop Wallace-Padgett with NEJ
July 11, 2024 / By Beth DiCocco, Daily Christian Advocate contributor / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Editor's Note: Beth DiCocco is the Director of Communications for the New England Conference of The United Methodist Church
After the necessary organizing motions and approval of the Rules of Order, the NEJ Committee on Episcopacy (COE) was the first to give its report to the delegates as the plenary sessions got under way.
Judi Kenaston, chair of the COE, offered her appreciation for the committee who, while not all in agreement, “listened deeply and in holy ways.” “You are represented well on the NEJ COE,” she said.
The COE, which offered some background information at delegates’ request on Tuesday, shared the list of “effective bishops eligible for assignment” in this jurisdiction. Bishop Debra Wallace-Padgett, who serves the Birmingham Episcopal Area and Holston Episcopal Area in the Southeastern Jurisdiction, is the bishop who will be shared across the jurisdictions. Bishop Wallace-Padgett, who was elected in 2012, will join Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball, Bishop Thomas Bickerton, Bishop LaTrelle Miller Easterling, Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi, and Bishop Héctor Burgos- Núñez.
Creed Pogue, delegate from Greater NJ, made a motion to remove Bishop Wallace-Padgett from the list, citing Discipline Paragraphs 524, 49, and 512. Since this is not a transfer, he said, she is serving in two colleges of bishops. Presiding Bishop LaTrelle Easterling ruled that motion out of order, saying the Jurisdictional Conference does not vote on the effective bishops.
“That’s the work of the Committee on Episcopacy and they have taken that action and approved those bishops,” she said.
The arrangement to share a bishop with the SEJ was a solution arrived at when it was learned at no bishops were willing to transfer to the jurisdictions (NEJ and the Western Jurisdiction) that would not have enough to meet the allocation approved by the General Conference. As Kenaston shared Tuesday, by Discipline, an episcopal transfer requires the approval of the sending jurisdiction COE, the receiving jurisdiction COE, and the bishop being transferred.
On Wednesday, Kenaston elaborated saying that due to a ruling that only those bishops elected before 2022 are eligible for transfer, there were only 15 bishops eligible for transfer and four of those are already serving in the NEJ.
Kenaston also said the shared bishop will serve in a conference that borders the SEJ and “we look at this as an assignment, not coverage.” Delegates learned during the morning that the SEJ COE had announced its approval of the arrangement with Bishop Wallace-Padgett to its delegates. As was shared on Tuesday, the COE will seek confirmation that the Interjurisdictional Committee on the Episcopacy has the authority to approve this arrangement by seeking a declaratory decision and a question of law from the Judicial Council.
COE Secretary Robert Zilhaver, Western PA Conference, shared more details about those two actions:
- A request for a declaratory decision from the Judicial Council. This would come from the NEJ to the Judicial Council. The motion from the COE to seek the decision must be approved by vote of the delegates. That vote is expected today, July 11.
- A question of law. This is submitted by all the members of the COE as individuals because the COE as a body does not have standing to seek a question of law. This is not voted on by delegates because it does not come from the NEJ as a body. Bishop Easterling has up to 30 days to respond to a question of law before it is sent to the Judicial Council.
Presiding over the afternoon session, Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball clarified that the most recent General Conference changed the process around requests for declaratory decisions and they are not amendable. Any amendments or additions to the request would have to go to the Judicial Council as separate requests.
The COE report also included a vote on the motion from certify the retirement of Bishop John Schol, which was approved.
The work of the COE is an ongoing project, Kenaston said, “as we seek to make a jurisdiction that is flexible, creative, and fruitful in our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”