wfn.org | Bishop from Philippines to give keynote address at General

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Conference 

May 1, 1998	Contact: Linda Green*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
{271}
 
NOTE: Photographs of Bishops Bashore and Morgan are available with this
story.
 

By Robert Lear*

LINCOLN, Neb. (UMNS) - For the first time in the United Methodist
Church's history, a bishop living outside the United States will give
the primary address to a General Conference.

Acknowledging the church's global nature, the United Methodist Council
of Bishops elected Emerito P. Nacpil of Manila, the Philippines, to give
the "state of the church" Episcopal Address in Cleveland, opening the
2000 General Conference.  The conference, which meets every four years,
is the denomination's highest lawmaking body.

The council's May 1 action came at the end of  the group's weeklong,
semi-annual meeting. More than 100 bishops from around the world
participated in the sessions.

Nacpil said he regarded his selection as a "significant recognition of
the diversity of races and cultures in the United Methodist Church." 

Nacpil was elected a bishop in 1980 and has been based in Manila since
then.  He is one of 15 active United Methodist bishops outside the
United States. Those bishops serve the denomination's churches in
Africa,  Europe and the Philippines.

In other business, the council installed Bishop George W. Bashore of
Pittsburgh, as its president. He succeeds Nacpil and will serve a
one-year term. 

Bashore, 64, was elected bishop in 1980. He has led United Methodists in
the Pittsburgh Area since 1988, and he served in  Boston from 1980 to
1988. He is the senior active bishop in the church's Northeastern
Jurisdiction.

The council also named as president-elect Bishop Robert C. Morgan,
Louisville, Ky. He  will take office at the council's spring meeting in
l999. Morgan, 64, became bishop in l984 and has led the Louisville Area
since l992. He is senior active bishop in the Southeastern Jurisdiction,
and served eight years in Jackson, Miss., before being assigned to
Louisville.
	
Bishop Sharon Rader, Sun Prairie, Wis., is secretary of the Council of
Bishops. The secretary serves a four-year term.
		 
# # #

*Lear is a retired staff member of United Methodist News Service,
residing in Wernersville, Pa.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/