United Methodists raise bishops’ retirement age by 2 years

Bishop Jane Middleton presides over a session of the 2008 United Methodist General Conference. Middleton, 67, is one of three bishops who will be allowed to continue to serve as an active bishop after delegates voted to raise the episcopal retirement age to 68. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

By Linda Green

FORT WORTH, Texas (UMNS) — The 992 delegates to the 2008 United Methodist General Conference increased by two years the mandatory retirement age for bishops.

The decision impacts three of 14 bishops who were retiring on Aug. 31 following the regular sessions of the five U.S. jurisdictional conferences in July and the central conference meetings in Africa, Europe and the Philippines in the fall and in 2009. The increase in the retirement age was proposed by a task force studying the episcopacy, and a hand vote the delegates took on April 28 made the decision effective at the conclusion of the 2008 General Conference.

Changing the retirement age from 66 to 68 reflects the way Social Security is moving in allowing people to work longer if they choose, said Peggy Sewell of the episcopal services office at the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.

The action also moves the bishops closer to the retirement age for ordained elders and saves costs for the Episcopal Fund, according to the Rev. Janet L. Forbes, a delegate from the Rocky Mountain Annual Conference and chairwoman of the subcommittee considering the recommendations from the episcopal study task force.

The Episcopal Fund provides economic support to bishops by paying their salaries, pensions and benefits as well as episcopal office, business travel and meeting expenses.

Bishops William Hutchinson, Jane Middleton and Solito Toquero have the option of proceeding with retirement if they choose or serving for another four years.

Prior to General Conference, mandatory disciplinary requirements stated that bishops had to retire on Aug. 31 following the regular session of the jurisdictional conference if the bishop's 66th birthday had been reached on or before July 1 of the year in which the jurisdictional conference was held.

‘Grateful to serve more’

Middleton, 67, episcopal leader of the Central Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference, said she is “very grateful to have another four years to serve in this way.” She was elected to the episcopacy in 2004 and never expected to be able to serve more than four years. It was after reading the recommendation to increase the retirement age that "I wondered if perhaps a door was opening that I thought was absolutely closed by the Book of Discipline," she said.

She has been engaged in a period of prayer and discernment to make herself available if she could serve four additional years. "I felt in my heart that if the door should open, I would say yes. I feel nothing but joy for this opportunity."

But Toquero, 66, bishop of the Manila Area of the Philippines, and Hutchinson, of the Louisiana Area, are considering their plans.

"I still want to retire, and I do not know how the church in the Philippines would look at this because there are many who want me to continue," Toquero said. He would need to reflect and decide before the Nov. 19-22 meeting of the Philippines Central Conference. "A few months before that I will make a decision to continue to retire or wait two more years," he said.

Hutchinson, 66, said he is "really in prayerful discernment for the future."

Bishops recognized

Bishop Violet Fisher, 68, who has to retire, said she would face a dilemma if she had the option of staying. "A part of me would love to continue to serve in this role, (but) I left my son at our home in Delaware at the age of 10 when I was elected," she said. They have been commuting six hours by car to her episcopal area in Northwest New York to see one another. Her son, Marcus will be a senior next year. "I would have to give prayerful discernment. I feel that my son is my priority right now."

During the April 27 morning session, General Conference recognized the retiring bishops, who include Fisher, Hutchinson, Middleton and Toquero, as well as Benjamin Chamness, Sharon Brown Christopher, Joseph C. Humper, Benjamin Justo, João Somane Machado, Joel N. Martinez, J. Lawrence McCleskey, Susan Morrison, Øystein Olsen and Beverly Shamana.

The conference also recognized the Council of Bishops’ new leadership team: Gregory Palmer, president; Larry Goodpaster, president-designate; Sharon Rader, ecumenical officer; Robert Hayes, council secretary; and Donald Ott, executive secretary.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.