The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1907-06-21

EPISCOPARY
JUST NOW MATTER OF MUCH IN
TEREsT TO THE CHURCH
METoD or APPOINTMENT
NOT SATISFACTORY.
So Much Work Imposed on Bishops
That They. Are Being killey by 1t
Several Plans Suggested For Bet
ter Conditions.

4
The Methodist Episcopacy is the
subject now engaging the attention OF
leaders in that denomination. For,
says the Brooklyn Eagle, although the
Methodist general conference does not
meet until next spring, there exists
| in the denomination a strong senti-
J ment that the conference must do
something to relieve the bishops from
/ the pressure of work which is wear
| ing out the men now in the general
superintendency of the church, and
which it is seriously believed, has
! caused the deaths of several bishops
| in recent years. Discussion among
the leaders and careful study of the
| situation, is now being held in order
that some plan may be made ready
for the meeting fthe general confer
ence.
1t is said that there is a new feeling
in the Methodist church about its gen
eral superintendent, and that the
/ change will be made manifest at the
coming general conference. No long
err, it is said, are men being urged for
the honor of the episcopacy by their
well-meaning friends, as they were
until very recent years; but now lead
ers in the church are seeking for men
upon whom it will be safe to lay the
tremendous work and responsibility
of the Office. For the Methodist
church, some leaders say, is rapidly
killing off it's bishops with work.
Four of the bishops have died since
the general conference of 1904. Mer-
rill, Fitzgeral, Joyce and McCaDe.
BISHOPS Fowler and Hamilton have
been too ill for months to engage ac-
lively in the work of their office. IL
is pointed out that in all but very
few instances the bishops who nave
died in recent years have literally
dropped Bishop Joyce, who died
two years ago, said shortly before his
| death that he had been in his own
home only five nights in as many
months, and had done most of his
sleeping on railroad trains.
In several particulars the system
which governs the appointments OF
! Methodist bishops is deemed to be
faulty. Although opinion is by no.
means unanimous in the church, some
Headers are outspoken in saying that
the assignments of the bishop to an
| nual conferences is uneconomic.
bishop may be appointed to live in
Buffalo. for example, and he may be
assigned to preside over conferences
in New England, in Mexico, and in the
state of Washington. Examples as
extreme as this are by no means I'M
known in the Methodist church.
! Several plans have been suggested
for remedying the conditions. IT, is
impossible to say whether anyone OF
them will meet the approval of the
general conference, but it is certain
that some of them will be considered
by that body. One plan calls for in
crease in the number of bishops. TheI
| Methodist church is growing at the
rate of fully $4,000 members every
| wear. and there has been no proper
tionate increase in the number OF It's
superintendents. The last generaI
conference elected eleven bishops,
four of them missionary. THIS was
the largest number ever elected at
one conference, and showed that three
years ago the church was alive to the
situation. There are those who pre-
dict that an even large number OF
bishops will be chosen next year.
Another suggested remedy is the
choosing of young men for the epls-
copacy. The eleven men chosen in
1904 averaged 54 years of age, the
Youngest being 46, the oldest %. That
there will be an effort to reduce the
average age in next years selections
there seems to be no doubt. There
is grove question as to whether any
change can be made next year in the
method of appointing them to CONFER
ences. The latter depends upon the
bishops themselves, and the former
is governed by a committee OF the
general conference only recently es-
tablished. Something may be done,
leaders say, by these existing agen-
cies without intervention of the con-
ference.