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Council of Bishops President

In addition to residential responsibilities, bishops serve as bishops of the entire church through membership in the Council of Bishops. In April, Palmer was elected to a two-year term as president of the Council of Bishops. He becomes the second bishop of the Illinois Area to serve in this role – the first being Bishop Christopher in 2003-2004, when the term of office was a single year.

As president, Palmer works collegially with the bishops from 63 annual conferences in the United States, 14 central conferences outside the United States as well as those bishops that have retired in providing executive leadership for the church.

On Sept. 15, Palmer issued a pastoral letter concerning U.S. policy barring relief efforts in Cuba (see related story in this issue). Due to the strained diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, the United Methodist Committee on Relief and other agencies are unable to assist in disaster relief with the Methodist Church of Cuba, an autonomous Methodist church.

“The pastoral letter’s intent was two-fold – to raise awareness to the plight of the Cuban people and to seek assistance in lifting the policy, even for a temporary basis, to get relief help into Cuba,” Palmer said. “The Cuban people didn’t cause the hurricane. We don’t want them to be further victimized by policies between the two governments. We want to provide response to victims of Hurricane Ike whether it is the Gulf Coast or the Carribean.”