Atlanta Daily World

Bishop Reminds AME Zion Church
Of Past Errors

BY LOUIS LAUTIER
Washington Correspondent, Atlanta Daily World and

services and communion in the
Delivering the quadrennial ser-
mon, Bishop Raymond L. Jones of
Salisbury, N. C., reminded lay and
ecclesiastical delegates of past
errors of the AME Zion Church.

1. To promote the Christian
church and replace ministers who
have already given "a full measure
of devotion to the church."

2. To provide for migratory mem-
bers who are moving north.

3. To safeguard the funds of
the denomination.

4. To utilize the resources
of the World Council of Churches in
developing an adequate program of
devotion in home and community
life.

5. To visualize and give adequate
support for missionary work in
Africa, South America and the Vir-
gin Islands in terms of personnel
and moral support.

6. To support adequately Hood
Theological Seminary at Livingston
College in terms of finance.

Bishop Jones declared that these
were only a few of the important
errors of the past. "I'm sure that at
this General Conference we can
repent of our sins of omission," he
said. "However, to continue them
will be tragic.

The sermon was interspersed with
appeals to the emotion which had
members of the congregation, parti-
cularly ministers, repeatedly re-
sponding. "Yes. Oh, Yes, Lord!"

Bishop William J. Walls of Chi-
cago, the senior bishop who presid-
ed called the sermon a "fervent and
prophetic message."

Bishop Jones is the presiding
bishop of the Seventh Episcopal
District, embracing the Indiana,
East Tennessee and Virginia, the
Central North Carolina and the Pee
Dee (North Carolina) Conferences.
He also has taken over the work
of the late Bishop C. C. Alleyne in
the Philadelphia-Baltimore Con-
ference. He also presides over the
South America Conference.

Three bishops are due to be elect-
ed at this general conference. They
will fill vacancies caused by the
deaths of Bishops Alleyne, John W.
Martin and James C. Taylor.

Estimates on the number of can-
didates for these three bishoprics
range as high as 60. A conservative
estimate is that the number is
closer to 35 or 40.

An authoritative source, who did
not wish to be quoted, said he
doubted that more than 10 would be
seriously considered by the conference.

The names which are being most
prominently in connection with the
vacancies are Dr. M. Claude Spur-
geon, executive secretary-auditor,
Washington, D. C., the Rev. Joseph
B. Cauthen, pastor of Metropolitan
AME Zion Church, Norfolk,
Va.,
and the Rev. Felix Anderson, of
Louisville, a member of the Ken-
tucky legislature.

After the sermon Wednesday
morning, communion was adminis-
tered to 626 clergymen and lay
dele gates by Bishop William A. Ste-
wart, Stephen G. Spottswood and
Hampton T. Medford, all of Wash-
ington, D. C.

During the communion service, a
lay delegate Luther Stovall, Wor-
cester, Mass., suffered a heart at-
tack. After being given first aid in
the church, he was removed on a
stretcher in a police patrol to a hos-
pital. He is said to have been under
an oxygen tent within the past
two months.

Before being removed, he insisted
upon being given communion. Bishop
Spottswood administered the com-
munion giving him spiritual com-
fort while doing so.

The opening session Wednesday
began with a processional of
Bishops, general officers and
ministerial and lay delegates.

Prayer was offered by Bishop Med-
ford. Scripture was read by Bishop
William C. Brown of Brooklyn.

The affirmation of faith was led by Bishop Herbert B. Shaw of
Wilmington, N. C. Bishop Jones
pronounced the benediction.

The session Wednesday afternoon
ended in confusion as a rebellion
broke out among the delegates over
a resolution that apparently ori-
ginated with or had the backing of
the Board of Bishops.

The resolution would have deleted
three sections of the Book of Dis-
cipline providing for automatic re-
tirement of bishops at the General
Conference nearest their 74th birth-
day and for their recall, upon re-
quest, by secret ballot of the con-
ference at which they were retired.

After a two and a half hour
wrangle, action on the motion to re-
peal the three sections was postpon-
ed until Thursday morning when it
will be the first order of business.

The afternoon session went
through the routine business of
seating delegates. The roll of bishops
was then called. All answered to
their names.

Dr. Spurgeon then started to call
the roll of general officers. The first
flare-up of the conference occurr-
ed when he inadvertently called the
name of Dr. W. R. Lovell, who was
the editor of the Star of Zion, the
church organ.

Bishop Walls challenged the read-
ing of the name of a general of-
ficer who had been removed by the
Board of Bishops.

Dr. Spurgeon explained that the
roll had been made up before the
suspension was made and that he
had inadvertently called the name.

The Rev. S. M. Hazzard of the
East Tennessee and Virginia Con-
ference of the 7th Episcopal Dis-
trict requested information.

He wanted to know if a general con-
ference elects an officer was it the
duty of the general officer to come back to the conference and
report to it, or was it the duty of
the bishops to report to the dele-
gates what the officers did that
caused them to remove him.

Bishop Brown reported that the
secretary was calling the roll, and
reports of general officers were not
yet being made.

"Why should we call his name
with people who are in good stand-
ing?" Bishop Brown asked.

Bishop Jones told the Rev. Haz-
zard he was out of order. "We had
the authority to keep his name off
the roll," Bishop Jones declared. He told the
Rev. Hazzard to read the law-that
the Board of Bishops has the au-
thority to keep anybody's name off
the roll.

The Rev. J. R. Funderburk of the
"Pee Dee" (North Carolina Con-
ference read a prepared statement
recalling that at the General Con-
ference in Brooklyn four years ago
a motion had been adopted that no
bishops should be retired in 1952.
He also said the resolution in-
structed the general secretary not
to announce the age of bishops who
had reached the retirement age
when they had finished their re-
ports, as required by the Discipline
and also instructed the presiding
bishop not to declare any bishop re-
tired because of age.