Decision Number 308

Eligibility of a Person, No Longer a Member of the Annual Conference Which Elected Him, to Serve as a Delegate to the General Conference and Jurisdictional or Central Conference.

Digest

A person who has been elected to the General Conference and Jurisdictional or Central Conference and subsequent to his election and before the sessions of such conferences is transferred from one Annual Conference to another loses his status as a delegate and may not be seated as a delegate of the Annual Conference from which he has transferred.

Statement of Facts

At the opening of the Ninth Session of the Philippines Central Conference, Wednesday, November 27, 1968, a question was raised as to whether or not a ministerial delegate to the General Conference and Jurisdictional or Central Conference can be seated at the sessions of these conferences, if subsequent to his election as delegate and before the sessions of such conferences he is transferred from one Annual Conference to another. Bishops Jose L. Valencia and James K. Mathews ruled that the answer to this question is "No."

Jurisdiction

This matter comes properly before the Judicial Council for review under Paragraph 1712 of the 1968 Discipline.

Analysis and Rationale

Paragraph 39 of the Constitution requires that delegates to the conferences be in full connection with the Annual Conference or Provisional Annual Conference electing them when elected and at the time of holding the General and Jurisdictional or Central Conferences. Clarification of the Constitutional requirement is provided in Paragraph 662.6 of the Discipline and Judicial Council Decision No. 254.

Decision

The ruling of Bishops JosJ L. Valencia and James K. Mathews is hereby affirmed.