WMJM Celebrates First Openly Lesbian Bishop
The Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, senior pastor of Glide UMC, has been elected bishop at the Western Jurisdiction Conference meeting in Phoenix Friday, July 15. Karen is the first openly lesbian bishop to be elected in the denomination. She was elected on the 17th ballot, after Skip Strickland of the Rocky Mountain Conference and Dottie Escobedo-Frank of Desert Southwest Conference withdrew with prophetic and inspiring speeches.
After several ballots that seemed to suggest delegates were stalemated, the Inter-Ethnic caucus asked for 20 minutes of questioning with the candidates. It was after this gathering that the stalemate appeared to break, with Skip and Dottie withdrawing soon after.
The Western Methodist Justice Movement encouraged Annual Conferences in the Western Jurisdictions to elect a bishop without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity, and then as the Conference got closer, encouraged delegates to the meeting to elect an openly gay or lesbian bishop. The conferences endorsed two persons who were openly lesbian or gay: Frank Wulf, the convenor of WMJM and pastor of Echo Park UMC in Los Angeles, and Karen Oliveto, senior pastor of Glide Memorial UMC in San Francisco.
Karen was the preacher for the closing worship service at the WMJM retreat in Lake Tahoe in 2014. Frank was the preacher for the opening worship service.
The unanimous election of Karen continues the "new normal" that the West has been living into in a long time, stretching back before the statement, "We Will Not Be Silent," in 2000, a statement that publicly challenged the lack of inclusivity of the United Methodist official statements. Also in response to the actions of the General Conference, the Western Jurisdiction adopted a statement to "be a home for all God’s people, gathered around a table of reconciliation and transformation."
The Western Jurisdiction has had as its mantra radical and extravagant hospitality since at least 2008. At the 2016 General Conference, held in Portland, Oregon, more than 60 delegates from outside the United States were welcomed into the homes of United Methodists for dinner, hospitality, and getting acquainted.
Richard Bentley, one of the leaders of the WMJM and pastor of Brea UMC in Southern California, points out another characteristic of the West: "we have emphasized our relationships with one another in the midst of our diversity to find our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ."
The Western Jurisdiction is the most diverse jurisdiction in the denomination. Just in the California-Pacific Annual Conference, the most racially diverse conference, United Methodists worship in 14 languages every Sunday. There are over 100 languages in the Seattle school district. The Jurisdiction spans 9 time zones from the eastern plains of Colorado to the islands of Guam and Saipan, including the states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and Hawai`i.
According to the Western Jurisdiction web site, "The Western Jurisdiction has traditionally been a place of historic first elections. Delegates to the Western Jurisdictional Conference have consistently advocated for full inclusion of all in the life of the church.
"The Jurisdiction has elected:
The first Asian-American to be elected bishop was Wilbur Choy (Chinese-American) in 1972. He served in the Seattle and San Francisco Episcopal Areas before retirement;
The first African-American bishop to be elected in the Western Jurisdiction was Melvin G. Talbert in 1980;
The first African-American woman bishop was Leontine T.C. Kelly, elected in 1984;
The first Hispanic-American to be elected was Elias Galvan in 1984;
Bishop Elias Galvan was the first Hispanic ever to serve as president of the Council of Bishops (in 2001);
The first Japanese-American to be elected was Roy Sano in 1984; and,
The first Latina bishop was Minerva Carcaño, elected in 2004."
According to Rev. Jeremy Smith, Minister of Discipleship at First UMC Portland, in a blog post entitled, Will the Scrappy West Overcome The #UMC With Love?,
The Western Jurisdiction has the highest percentage of vitality for its churches.
The Western Jurisdiction has a better ratio of “Professions of Faith to Members” than any other jurisdiction.
The Western Jurisdiction’s per capita church involvement is the highest in United Methodism.
Finally, The Western Jurisdiction’s per capita giving is the highest (by several percentage points) in United Methodism.
The election of Rev. Dr. Karen Oliveto, the first openly lesbian Bishop in the United Methodist Church, brings to three the number of female bishops in the five-member College of Bishops in the Jurisdiction. It should be noted, too, that there is no ethnic majority on the College, as well.
Watch for more information on Karen as this story is developed. In trhe meantime, visit these Links to more coverage:
Western Jurisdiction story
WJ Large-Church Pastors Support New Bishop
United Methodist News Service story
More about Rev. Oliveto (pdf) and also here
Rocky Mountain Conference commentary