Harvey 5-5-2020
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey gives a pre-recorded video address to the United Methodist Council of Bishops after she was installed as council president. (Screenshot of Zoom meeting via Facebook by UM News.)
Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey, who leads the Louisiana Conference, became president of Council of Bishops during the May 1 online meeting.
She is the first Hispanic woman and woman of color to hold that role.
“I am humbled and covet your prayers as we continue together into a world that is filled with words like ‘unprecedented’ and ‘never before,’” she said in a pre-recorded address. “Yet, as people of faith, as Easter people, we know that to God, nothing is unprecedented and nothing is ever unknown.”
Harvey comes to her new role as the denomination faces the devastation of a global pandemic, deals with its first postponed General Conference and contemplates a split along theological lines.
She succeeds Bishop Kenneth Carter, who leads the Florida Conference.
The council president is responsible for presiding over the bishops’ executive committee and the twice-yearly council meetings.
The president’s term is two years. However, council presidents serve on the executive committee for two years as president-designate before taking office and another two years after stepping down.
Only General Conference — the denomination’s lawmaking assembly — can speak officially for The United Methodist Church. However, the council president sometimes speaks to journalists and others within and outside the denomination on behalf of the bishops and church teachings. The president also often takes a leading role in council initiatives.
To watch Bishop Harvey’s first address as president on Facebook