wfn.org | Tutu will address United Methodist bishops in May

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

April 7, 1999 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.  10-21-31-71B{189}

By United Methodist News Service

Desmond Tutu, archbishop emeritus of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa,
will speak to United Methodist bishops from around the world when they
gather in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 1-7.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is scheduled to address the bishops and invited
guests at the Marriott Trade Center Tuesday, May 4, at 7 p.m.  

Tutu, 68, was a leading opponent of apartheid, a policy of racial separation
and intimidation instituted by the former white minority government in South
Africa.  He has been chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
established by the new South African government to investigate crimes
committed during the apartheid era.

This will be the first time the United Methodist Council of Bishops has met
in Chattanooga.
The semi-annual meeting will include 50 active bishops from the United
States; 17 active bishops from Africa, Europe and the Philippines; and more
than 60 retired bishops. Ten of the active U.S. bishops are African
American, two are Hispanic American, and two are Asian American. Nine are
women.

The United Methodist Church has 8.5 million members in the United States,
making it the second largest Protestant group in the country. It has another
1.4 million members in other parts of the world.

Bishop George W. Bashore of the denomination's Pittsburgh Area will complete
his one-year term as president of the council at the close of the
Chattanooga meeting. His successor, Bishop Robert  C. Morgan of the
Louisville (Ky.) Area, will be installed during closing sessions Friday
morning, May 7.

Children from the Chattanooga area will join the bishops and their spouses
at a dinner meeting Saturday, May 1, to celebrate a children and poverty
initiative launched by the council in 1995.   Heading the initiative is
Bishop Marshall L. (Jack) Meadors Jr. of the Mississippi Area. Also
participating in the dinner meeting will be people who promote the
initiative in their respective areas. 

Meeting three days before the council, the network of initiative leaders
will share success stories and strategies and hear an address by Mike Moore,
attorney general for the state of Mississippi.  Under Moore's leadership,
the state received a $4.1 billion settlement from the tobacco industry.     

"The state legislature has just made a decision to put this money in a trust
fund with the interest going to provide health care for the people of
Mississippi," Meadors said. 

The bishop said the attorney general has had a long personal commitment to
children and youth and is leading a campaign to help them understand the
dangers of tobacco use.  

During  business sessions early Thursday afternoon, May 6, the council will
discuss the future of the initiative and a churchwide appeal the bishops
made in 1997 titled "Hope for the Children of Africa." 

In closed sessions Sunday, May 2, exactly one year before the church's
General Conference opens in Cleveland, the bishops will hear the first
reading of an episcopal address being prepared by former council president
Bishop Emerito P. Nacpil of the Philippines.  As is tradition, the address
will be given at the beginning of the 10-day General Conference. Although
one bishop gives the address, it is signed by each bishop and represents
their collective mind on the state of the church and society.  

The General Conference is the church's top legislative body and is the only
group that sets official policy and speaks for the denomination. It includes
nearly 1,000 delegates - half clergy, half lay - from every region of the
church. The bishops are seated at the conference but do not vote.
Individual bishops preside over the sessions.

During their meeting in Chattanooga, the bishops are expected to address
several social issues.  The topic and wording of the statements are
developed on site by a Committee on Resolutions, which will make its
recommendations on Thursday afternoon.  

The council meeting will close with worship Friday morning. 

______________
United Methodist News Service
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