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About The voice. (Lincoln, Nebraska) 1946-195? | View Entire Issue (July 31, 1952)
THE LAYMEN’S VOICE VOL. 1, NO. 5 nil v iq<«9 __ _ JULY, 1952 _ PRICE 10c 3 Bishops Elected; to Serve in Foreign Fields Bishop Frederick Douglass Jordan Ordained a preacher in 1921, a deacon in 1922, and an elder in 1924. He pastored in St. Paul, Minn., and Moline, 111., before coming to St. Mary’s AME in Chi cage in 1929. He later pastored Carey Temple, also in Chicago. He organized the Bishop Wil liams School of Religion at West ern university. His wife is Mrs. Artishia Jordan, a Chicagoan. For years he was pastor of Eighth and Towne AME church in Los Angeles. Since 1950 he has been pastor of Ward Chapel there. Bishop. H. Thomas Primm Born in Brentwood, Tenn , reared in Nashville, and educated at Wilberforce and ^isk univer sities and Payne seminary, holds B.A., B.D., and LLD., degrees. He has pastored in Nashville, Memphis, Alexandria, La., Port Gibson, Miss., Little Rock, Ark., Hot Springs and New Orleans. He has taught school at Tenner col 1 e g e in Tennessee and Shorter college. He has represented the AME church in two world con ferences, and has traveled and studied in England, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land. Before becoming bishop he was director of physical education in the AME church. In New Orleans, Bishop Primm has served the past six years as chairman of the advisory commit tee of the mayor of the city of| Ed Note: This is published after con ference for thoughtful consideration. Time fast approaches when we shall be journeying to Chicago to attend our General Conference. We the delegates will be travelling over numerous highways all lead ing to one designated spot. Though coming from all directions there is one highway that stands out plainly ever which we all should be riding, and that is the great Bibical Highway 66 with markers from Genesis to Revelations. All along the way there are laws to keep, signposts of warnings handed down through endless ages known as the Ten Commandments for our guidance. As we proudly gather in the great metropolis of Chicago let us be up and about our Masters! business. We go not for a vacation, but to give our minds and hearts to the teachings of Jesus Christ and to the work of the A.M.E. Church, that it may ever continue to plant seeds in fertile soil that they may grow and become strong plants in African Episcopal Meth odist Kingdom Building. Many years age Richard Allen planted a garden. In it he planted seeds of Christianity. Through the years these seeds have grown and multiplied, but as in all gardens no matter how careful we attend or cultivate them, unwanted weeds seem to creep in and grow. It is up to the planter or whom ever left in charge to clean out these weeds that the good plants might live and grow. We the members of the A.M.E. Church, especially the Bishops, General Officers, Delegates, and Laymen are the caretakers of this great garden of faith of African Meth odism. Let us keep a watchful eye and clean out any unwanted weed that may chance to creep in and smother the other plants as they try to grow. This will not be an easy task, but one which requires our whole New Orleans. The new bishop is married to Mrs. Edith May Primm. They have a daughter, Rita May, 12 years old. Commenting on his ele vation, the bishop said: “I stand ready to serve my churth and race in any part of the world. Knowing I have no empty promises to make, I shall work to establish a record of con secration, sacrifice and service.’’ Bishop Eugene Clifford Hatcher Age 50, born in Eugala, Ala., son of Dr. C. D. and Mrs. Juli anne Hatcher. He is married tc Mrs. Oretha Tilman Hatcher, a Florida A&M college graduate. They are the parents of two chil dren, Mrs. Ruby Eugenia Craw ford, a graduate of Wilberforce university and married to a pro minent dentist, Dr. Fred Craw ford of Williamson, W. Va.; and Eugene Clifford Hatcher Jr., in 1951 a graduate of Fisk university with a B.A. in physics at the age of 19, now working for his mas ter’s degree and an instructor at Fisk. Bishop Hatcher has studied at Tuskegee institute, A&T college, Edward Waters college and Daniel Walker’s business college in Jack sonville, Fla., and at Payne in Birmingham. He is a Mason, an Elk, and a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity. For the past 12 years he edited the Southern Christian Recorder. Mrs. ANDERSON MRS CECIL C. ANDERSON Member and Secretary of Steward Board of Zion A.M.E. Church, Lexington Mo. 1st. Vice President Layman League, Southwest Mo. Conference and Delegate to the General Con ference. hearted, sincere, prayerful and considerate deliberations. We can not do it alone, but must take the wisdom and guidance of the greatest of all powers, God Al mighty. We must work with and through Him that His Blessings may be manifested upon our every thought and deed, that we may work together in* true Christian Brotherly Love that our Church as does a mighty eagle may spread out its wings of love, fellowship, and systematic business of' Our Father Which Art In Heaven. We as Laymen, who have been elected by the confidence placed In us by the members of the Church have much work to do. Let us bo about it in prayerful peaceful and persuasive manner. Yes. through the yean mistakes have been made foe all humans are subject to do so. but it is not too late to endeavor to correct some of these mistakes, and wrong-doings by filling In any gaps or [ (Continued on Page 5, Col. 3) AME's Move Forward With Judicial Council Layman Victorious After 4-Years Wait CHICAGO (ANP)— Sparked by . a layman, a minister and a bishop | and prodded by two days of i heated and explosive debate, dele- ; gates to the 34th Quadrennial Conference of the African Meth- } odist Episcopal church voted ] Thursday to form a judicial coun- ] cil designed as a body of final ] appeal even from the powerful j Bishops Council. This new body will consist of 17 members, either a layman or an j elder from each episcopal district.1! It will act as the highest ruling!( body in the church. L Other business activity during the past week included the read ing of reports of various general ] officers and the election of three < general officers. Passage of the bill setting up the Judicial Council, beginning with this General Conference, cli maxed a series of noisy demon strations spreading over three days under three different presid ing bishops. Activity for or against the pro posal was so intense that it de layed the elections of general of ficers for more than 24 hours and it pushed the election of bishops back until possibly late Friday night or Saturday. It also added the election of Council members to the program of the General Conference. Basically, the radical program of setting up the Judicial Council offers these changes in the present organization of the AME Church. CHANGES MADE BY NEW LAW The Bishops Council has been shorn of its judicial powers, and is replaced by the Judicial Coun cil. The section of the church Discipline giving these powers to the Bishops Council will be de leted from the Discipline, and a new section, The Judicial Council, will replace it. Membership of the new body will consist of nine elders and eight laymen, each of whom serves terms of eight years. At this gen eral conference, laymen shall be elected from odd numbered dis tricts except the 13th, and elders will be elected from the even numbered districts and the 13th. Members from the 1st through 9th districts will serve eight years, and those elected from other dis tricts will serve four years. After this Aiembers will be elected from these districts in question at every other quadrennium, thus giving the Judicial Council a staggered membership. Each district by majority vote of its delegates at the Quadren nial will nominate one member and one alternate (neither of which has to be a delegate to the General Conference). From these nominees, the General Conference will elect one from each district to serve on the Judicial Council. The alternates will serve only in case of death to the regular member. The Judicial Council will elect its own officers, a president, a vice president, and a secretary. It shall provide its own rules of ! procedure. No member of the Judicial Council may hold a general office or serve on any church board or any administrative or connec tional office. Members Must be at least 35 years old and have been a mmeber of the church in i good standing for at least eight years. Recognized leaders of the move ment for the judicial body were Herbert L. Dudley of Detroit, head of the AME Laymen; the Rev. Frank Veals of .South Caro lina, and Bishop D Ormonde Walker of the Fifth district. Bishop Walker, who led the fight for the passage of Judicial Council proposal in the 1948 quadrennial in Kansas City, com mented after the passage of this bill: “The passage of this legislation has brought freedoms to emmbers of the church and to the bishops, themselves.” By freedom for bishops, Bishop Walker said, he meant that the prelates are now free to act in council without a lot of political fanagling. He said that a bishop may act now without fear of re jprisals from the other bishops. I Bishop D. Ward Nichols of the 'First district, considered by many ' the “strong man” of the AME 1 church, had this to say: ; “Instead of curbing the power, .this law protects the bishops equally as it does the members of the church. I am delighted with the establishment of the Judicial Council. It has been needed a (Continued on Page 6, Col. 1) i** ' 1' > \ ^ P. G. PORTER ' P. G. PORTER of the Nebraska Conference of the AME Church was named to the newly created Judicial Council, the highest ecclesiastical authority in the church. Mr. Porter, a former school teacher, lives in Olathe, Kan. Expresses Thanks To Delegates To the Delegates of the 34th Ses sion of the General Conference of the A.M.E. Church held in Chicago May 1952: Greetings: The 34th General Conference is now history. I think that much needed Legis lation was enacted. It is needless to say that both, ministerial and lay delegates played an important Mrs. Winston at AME Conference Mrs. Margaret Winston, 2616 N. Allis, an active member of Trinity A.M.E. church, has recently re the 34th, quadrennial session of the A.M.E. church. When this conference met in Kansas City in 1948, Mrs. Winston served as chairman of the General Conference Committee at her church under the leadership of the Rev. S. M. Pointer. She has had charge of the church junior choir and is now president of the T.L.W. club and a member of the floral committee. A graduate nurse serving the late Dr. D. H. Davis of Independ ence, Kans., and Dr. E. E. Bowser of Parsons, Kans., Mrs. Winston has been interested in the general welfare of people to the extent that she is active in the NAACP and has served as chairman of the Women’s Division of the National Red Cross campaign. With her husband, Moses Winston, she presently operates a grocery store at 852 Walker Ave., Kansas City, Kas. While in Chicago, Mrs. Winston resided at the South Central Hotel. She attended a reception given by Mrs. D. Ward Nichols, the wife of Bishop Nichols. On Sunday, May II, she was guest at a missionary program at the Bethel church. Bishop John Gregg, Mrs. \nne Heath, and Miss Alma Polk were also special guests for this occasion. On Sunday, June 8, Mrs. Win ston modeled some custom-made African jewelry which was pur chased from Mrs. Etta Moten Bar nett’s Afro-American Art Bazaar. Mrs. Winston was sponsored by Sheba chapter No. 18 of O.E.S. at their 20th annual tea, an event narrated by Roosevelt Butler. O. M. TRAVIS part in getting this legislation en acted into law. Now, in my humble judgment, we should dedicate ourselves to the task of building our great Church and increasing the mem bership. We must also look for ward to adjusting many of our departments to meet the demands of a worthy people, in a day such as we now live. To me this is our great Challenge. Shall we meet it? At this time I wish to thank each of you who supported me in my effort to become a General Officer in our Great Church. We lost a hard fight, but the purpose for which we fought lives on. The large vote received by me bespeaks your interest in my be half, as a qualified, worthy, loyal layman. May I say, “with malice toward none and charity for all,” I beg to remain your humble, loyal layman. O. M. TRAVIS Charles Dana Gibson created the “Gibson Girl.” Cape Horn is at the Southern most tip of South America. Twenty-eight pieces are used in the game of dominoes.