St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1945-07-06
Bishops Councils Are COlOrfuI
AS Political Party COnfabs

The next time your anne minis
ter goes to a semi-annual Con-
nectional and Bishops Council, as
held at the St. John AME Church
here the past week, give him a
box of aspirin and some cough
tablets. He'll need them.
That is, of course, if he is an
nouncing his chat in the ring" for
the bishopric and probably, you
would know by the extent of the
financial rallies.
Your preacher will need the as
pirin for the headaches involved
and by the time he finishes talk
ing, he'll have to depend on cough
tablets for his throat.
The Correctional Council, COM
prised of AME church outstand-
ing leaders, ministers, and Sunday
School teachers, from every place
in the sphere of AME influence,
meets annually to discuss prob
lens.
Insiders commend the stirring
sermons and the concentrated
amount of work squeezed into the
days program but the outsiders
that is the folk who see only the
printed program, are of the opinion
that the activity if compressed
could fit into the head of a thimble.
Probably that is too critical a
secular opinion.
Correctional Councils are the
primaries for the potential bishops.
The AME ministers at this confab
lay the groundwork for their quest
for the AME choice circle.
The correct etiquette, it was told
me, is to secure a page of the
Bishops Council souvenir program
and place a very large photo of
yourself on the top half. Then on
the bottom, print your life history
from the first time you blinked to
the last church you built.
For instance you write "The Rev.
So-andSo has built a new church,
has so many followers, and is very
popular. His friends have asked
him to run for the bishopric."
This is the advance display pub
licity and to coincide with this, the
potential bishop then begins rally
ing votes of delegates in the vari-
Gus areas not forgetting, however,
that the incumbent bishops have
great degree of power as to who
joins them and who doesn't. Many
an AME cleric has almost broken
into the choice circle only to be
hammered back by an irate bishop.
Now with the publicity taken
care of, the minister arranges a
place on the program where he
can preach an important message
and evoke some lavish opinions,
thus winning the support of other
brethren.
Throughout the council sessions,
the potential bishops must remain
on the outside of the church more
so than on the matchmaking
new supporters and winning more
votes. Curiously about the AME
meets, the business is always
handled out of public meetings.
After the potential bishop makes
an intensive drive, his harvest of
popularity is great. But here be-
gins the actual drive for power.
For similarly to his own efforts,
almost fifty other preachers have
carried on the same kind of cam
paign. Thus by the time the con-
ference is put in mothballs, the
potential bishops have the equiva-
lent of betting" odds.
You won't realize the race for
the bishopric until you accidental
ly become absorbed in an AME
crowd and find your hand being
shaken so many times by well
wishers who never forget to leave
the calling card signed "The Rev.
So-and-So-Aspirant for the Bish-
opric."
Throughout the Correctional
Council-and this is with great
apology to the small number of
faithful clerics who attend the con-
fab for the soul-stirring messages
the foremost idea in the minds
of the majority delegates is how
they can better their own or some
body else's chances of becoming a
bishop.
For instance when the confer