Jackson advocate. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1939-current, 1946-11-30
BISHOPS SIMS AND CURRY EXPELLED
FROM THE BISHOPRIC; DAYS., SUS.
PENDED; FOUNTAIN, Ex0NERATED

\UvkuuAuIO
Rev. r. Brown
Defeats Rev. Sims
For Secretaryship
Courtesy of Southern Mediator
Journal, Little Rock, Ark. Editor
C. H. Jones.
Bishops OH. Simms, Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, of the First
Episcopal District and George E
Curry @ Jacksonville, Florida
presiding Bishop of the Okda-
homa District, were expelled from
the Me Bishopric in the Extra
Session of the General Conference
which closed here last week.
This marks the first time in
its existence of over a hundred
and fifty years that the, AME
Church has called an extra SeS-
sion o fthe General Conference.
The vote in the case of Bishop
Simms was 999 in favor of his
expulsion and 80 against it; for
Bishop Curry the asserting vote
for expulsion was 812, the dis
senting vote "a.
Bishop Simms was not present
Curry who was present and who
listened to the Episcopal Com
mittee pronounce, his sentence,
asked for mercy. He said hiatt he
had been a member of the AME
Church for forty-six years and
that his physical condition would
not permit him to continue in the
fight. He first asked the Episcopal
Committee for suspension and re-
tracted this statement with a
request for retirement.
The Committee did not grant
this request and Bishop Curry
was expelled from the Bishopric
of the frican Episcopal Church.
Bishop Monroe H. Davis of Bal
timore, Maryland, was found gull
ty of conduct unbecoming a Bis
hop and was suspended without
pay until the meeting of the Bis
hops Council in February at Col
umbia, sc. The vote for the sus-
pension of Bishop Davis was. SOC
for and 2 against.
EXonerating Bishop William A.
Fountain of Atlanta, Ga. charged
with seeking to defeat the action
of his colleagues, the vote was
UNANIMOUS.
Bishop John Gregg of Kansas
City, Kansas, in pronouncing the
sentence as recommended by the
Episcopal Committee and passed
by the delegation, said in solemn
words that in as much as he re-
GREETED to announce the sentence
upon Bishop Simms and Bishop
Curry, it was nevertheless his
duty as Bishop of the AME Church
to declare that Bishop Simms and
Bishop gle. Curry are expelled
from the Bishopric of the African
Mthodist Church.
Rev. CT. Simms, secretary oil
the General Conference, who ser.
we'd in Philadelphia in 1914, was
defeated i'm the Extra Session O
the General Conference by DR.
Russell Brown, pastor of the St
Missouri, one of the most popular
ministers of the Connection.
Bishop Silnms expulsion wa!
; based on his persistent refusal tt
abide by the decisions of thu
church, of the Bishops Council
and his continued legal entangle
ment o fthe church in the courts
both state and federal.
Bishop Curry, only recently re
instated at the Bishops Council
in Kansas City last summer afte.
a suspension growing out of char
ges of careless handling of fund
in his district, found himself facet
with charges of conspiring will
Bishop Simms to defeat majorit.
decision in the church.
Bishop Fountain of Georgia, il
view of his persistent stand il
behalf of Bishop Simms, had re
!, suited in confusion and division
! among churchmen in his district