Longtime United Methodist African bishop to retire
8/3/2000 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York
NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of Bishop Emilio de Carvalho is available with this report, along with a file feature photo.
By United Methodist News Service
As the United Methodist leader of west Angola for nearly three decades, Bishop Emilio de Carvalho has helped his church emerge from the repression of the late colonial period to become one of the African country's most credible institutions today.
The bishop's influence and guidance also has extended to other parts of Africa. "We could never have established the Africa University with the kind of success which we have enjoyed without the experience and perception of Emilio de Carvalho," said the Rev. Roger Ireson, top executive of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
De Carvalho's role as the denomination's longest-serving bishop will come to an end with his retirement this year. He holds the distinction of being the first African bishop to serve as president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, a post he held for the 1991-92 year.
The bishop told United Methodist News Service that he considers Africa University, opened in 1992 at Old Mutare, Zimbabwe, to be one of the most exciting projects ever implemented by the church.
"Our dream for its future is that it grows and develops to a mature institution of higher learning and be able to respond effectively to the need for higher education of the youth of Africa," he said.
Ireson credited the bishop with the successful establishment of the university. "His skill is negotiating the complex reality of African culture, and his linguistic skills have been invaluable to us throughout the development of the Africa University project," he added. "He is not only a great African leader but a statesman of unusual skill and acumen."
Born on Aug. 3, 1933, in Pungo-Andongo, Angola, de Carvalho studied at Faculdade de Teologia da Igreja Methodista in Sao Paulo, Brazil, while serving as an assistant pastor at a local church. He received his bachelor's degree in 1958 and a master's degree from Northwestern University in 1960. That same year, he was ordained a deacon and returned to Angola, where he was appointed to Central Church in Luanda, the capital.
De Carvalho became a professor and principal of Emmanuel Theological Seminary in Doudi and the following year was ordained an elder. Later in 1966, he married Marilina Stella de Jesus Figueiredo.
Although Methodism had come first come to Angola in 1884, it was not until de Carvalho was elected to the episcopacy in 1972, at age 39, that the denomination had its first indigenous bishop in the country. At the time, membership was about 48,000. Today, official members number more than 100,000, with the church serving a larger community as well.
An estimated 6,000 people - 2,000 crowded inside Central Church and another 4,000 outside - attended the 1972 consecration service. Those present included government officials, the Roman Catholic archbishop and other Catholic leaders.
The political situation in Angola has overshadowed de Carvalho's tenure as bishop. Although the country finally gained independence from Portugal in 1975, a long civil war erupted the next year. Despite the signing of a peace treaty in 1991 between the ruling party and the rebel faction, Angola has continued to suffer from intermittent war.
During the 1961-75 war leading up to independence, nearly all of the 33 Angolan United Methodist pastors were killed, jailed or forced into exile. But the church continued to grow underground, and such conditions helped shape de Carvalho, according to Ireson. "His experience as a prisoner under Portuguese colonial power and his deep theological insight have formed in him a church leader of significant perception and personal influence," he explained.
A prime accomplishment during his episcopacy, according to de Carvalho, was the reopening of the churches in the 1970s after they had been closed for 16 years during the colonial period. "The colonial authorities had blamed the United Methodist Church for being involved in the liberation struggle and ordered the closure of our churches, except for Luanda and Malange," the bishop said.
Another treaty was signed at the end of 1994, and the United Nations dispatched peacekeepers to Angola the following year. But open warfare resumed at the end of 1998 between the government and UNITA rebels, who are supported by illegal diamond sales. The country's infrastructure has been decimated, and its people are plagued by poverty, hunger and ill health. One-third of all children die before the age of 5, and the adult life expectancy is just 42 years.
Although the church has become "one of the most credible institutions in Angola," the bishop said, it alone could not assure a lasting peace in the lives of individuals, societies and nations. "The rule of love is, in my opinion, the sole guarantee for peace not only in Angola but elsewhere in our world," he added.
The priorities of the church in Angola - extending its geographical base, establishing solid church structures, training competent leaders and fostering ecumenical relationships - are the same now as when the bishop took office.
"Today, we are thinking of extending the church to every corner of Angola, thus taking advantage of being a well-accepted religious community by the population everywhere," he said. "We are facing the problems of the war, displaced populations, the culture of violence and other consequences of the armed conflict. The education of youth nurtured in this situation of conflicts is also our priority."
De Carvalho is pleased with the demolishing of tribal frontiers that prevented every sector from fully participating in the church and with the rising status of women, leading to the prominence of United Methodist Women in Angola.
His concern for the people of Africa has extended beyond his own country. In 1984, de Carvalho and Liberian Bishop Arthur Kulah challenged the denomination to build its first university in Africa. The concept was approved at the 1988 General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body. De Carvalho was president of the governing board as Africa University was being built.
His vision for a new Africa served de Carvalho well as the first chancellor of Africa University, according to Ireson. "Under his spirited leadership, all African leaders felt themselves to be a part of this great endeavor of the church and personally understood and appreciated in their sub-cultural particularities and concerns," he said.
The bishop's wife, Marilina, also has been active in the larger church, recently serving as a director of the denomination's General Council on Ministries. Their three children are Ari Cesar, 33; Eunice Paula, 30; and David Mauro, 26. Ari has served as a denominational representative to the World Council of Churches' Central Committee.
De Carvalho said the first order of business after his retirement will be rest and relaxation. "It is hard for one to believe how a person could accumulate such an amount of responsibilities at one time and still have time to eat, to sleep and to enjoy life," he added.
After a period of rest, the bishop will offer his services to the general church "as long as God gives me good health."
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