DALLAS EXPLAINED

Recently the headlines were full of the doings of the panel of Methodist bishops who were trying to clean up the mess that Governor Clements and his gang made of SMU’s football program. Which raises the question: what’s a Methodist bishop, anyway? Well, these men and women are the highest-ranking clergy in the United Methodist Church, seeing as there’s no such thing as a Methodist pope And they do much more than write reports about payoffs and coverups. Once bishops are elected-for life-the church gives them an episcopal area; every eight years, as a rule, they’re rotated to another fiefdom. Within their territory, they get to appoint the ministers. Our very own Dallas-Fort Worth bishop, John Russell, picked the five-bishop panel that embarrassed Governor Clements and so many Dallas bigwigs. Shown at right, wearing official regalia, is Bishop 0. Eugene Slater. Now retired, he is the bishop in residence at Perkins School of

Theology.