Northeast United Methodist bishops get assignments

UMNS
Linda Bloom*
July 16, 2004

Eight of the 10 United Methodist bishops based in the Northeast are being assigned to new areas for the next four years.

The assignments for episcopal areas - announced July 16 during the Northeastern Jurisdictional Conference - will take effect Sept. 1.

Two bishops who have completed two four-year terms in their current areas - Bishop Ernest Lyght, New York area, and Bishop Peter Weaver, Philadelphia area - are being reassigned, as is traditional after that time period. Bishop Violet Fisher, New York West area, will continue there for a second term and Bishop Susan Morrison, Albany (N.Y.) area, has been extended for a third term.

Six pastors just elected as bishops during the July 12-16 conference in Syracuse were given their first assignments.

The assignments are:

Bishop Susan Morrison -- Albany area, which includes the Troy and Wyoming annual conferences, covering northeast Pennsylvania, eastern upstate New York and Vermont.

Bishop Peter Weaver -- Boston area, covering the New England Conference and the states of Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

Bishop Jane Allen Middleton -- Harrisburg area, covering the Central Pennsylvania Conference.

Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar -- New Jersey area, covering the Greater New Jersey Conference.

Bishop Jeremiah J. Park -- New York area, covering the New York Conference, which includes southern New York state and Connecticut.

Bishop Violet Fisher -- New York West area, including the North Central New York and Western New York conferences.

Bishop Marcus Matthews -- Philadelphia area, covering the Eastern Pennsylvania and Peninsula-Delaware conferences.

Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton -- Pittsburgh area, covering the Western Pennsylvania Conference.

Bishop John Schol -- Washington area, covering the Baltimore- Washington Conference.

Bishop Ernest Lyght -- West Virginia area, covering the West Virginia Conference.

*Linda Bloom is a United Methodist News Service writer based in New York.