Minerva Garza Carcaño (b. 1954) was the first Latina elected bishop in the UMC. A native of Edinburg, Texas, Carcaño grew up wanting to make a difference in the lives of people facing poverty and discrimination. She was received into full connection in 1980 in the Rio Grande Annual Conference. After several years in parish ministry, she in 1986 became the first Latina to be appointed a United Methodist district superintendent, serving in West Texas and New Mexico and later in Portland, Ore. She also was the organizing pastor in South Albuquerque Cooperative Ministry and director of the Mexican-American Studies Program at Perkins School of Theology. Carcaño was elected to the episcopacy in 2004, serving the Phoenix Episcopal Area for eight years before moving to the Los Angeles Episcopal Area in 2012. Carcaño is president of the board of the General Commission on Religion and Race and serves as the Council of Bishops’ official spokesperson on immigration issues. In February, she was arrested in front of the White House while holding a pray-in calling for the Obama administration to stop devastating families by deporting immigrants.
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Video of Carcaño speaking as part of the United Methodist Racial Ethnic Clergywomen's Consultation held in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 3-5, 2008
The website for the General Commission on Religion and Race
A Washington Post story about support for defrocked pastor Frank Schaefer , including Carcaño’s invitation for him to work in her conference
Carcaño's official biography