St. Paul's United Methodist Church
at 12 Marlborough Street in historic Newport, Rhode Island
Bishop C. Dale White
Pastor Emeritus of St. Paul's United Methodist Church
C. Dale White is a retired Bishop of The United Methodist Church.
Elected a bishop in 1976, he served for eight years in the New Jersey Area and for eight years in the New York Area.
He led the Council of Bishops in the church-wide study In Defense of Creation in 1986, a mobilization of the denomination against the continuing nuclear arms race. He was a delegate to the World Council of Churches' Consultation on Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, in Seoul, Korea, in1990. He was a delegate to the UNCED Conference, the Earth Summit, in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in 1992. He was a director of the Women's Division and the World Division of the General Board of Global Ministries, 1984-92, chairing the Africa/ Europe/ Middle East regional committee.
Retiring in 1992, he served for two years as coordinator of the Organic Gardening Project at the Scarritt-Bennett Center in Nashville, Tennessee and for four years as coordinator of the Africa Advocacy program of the World Division.
At the request of the members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Newport he came out of retirement in 2000 to serve as a co-pastor with Quentin Ivy for several years.
Although he has again “retired” to his lovely cottage in Newport, Rhode Island, with his wife, Gwen, a leader in spiritual formation in the denomination, he and Gwen remain extraordinarily active in all aspects of the global array of The United Methodist Church ministries.
In 1998, on the 50th
Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the book, Making A Just Peace:
Human Rights & Domination Systems by C. Dale White, was
published by Abington Press, Nashville, TN
T
he following extracts from the foreword appeared on the book's back
cover:
"Dale White's book is significant because it is written for and
about people who are caring and who have hope. And hope is like a
door that can be opened from both sides. We can open it ourselves
and walk across the threshold-or it may be opened by caring
persons-and together we walk across the threshold. The important
thing is that people of hope do not give up before a closed door. .
. . The depth and breadth of the issues and concerns addressed in
this book make it compelling reading for anyone concerned about the
future of the earth and for anyone who hopes that we may bequeath to
the children of the world a better future than our past....Tne
images of a laughing Jesus and an angry Christ are powerful icons
that emerged for us from our reading of Bishop Dale White's book.
Anger reminds us of the cost of discipleship-the price one pays in
naming and confronting demonic systems of domination in our world.
And laughter celebrates the incredible possibility that people of
faith will have the hope and strength to work together in ''making a
just peace."
Mia Adjali and Liberato Bautista
United Methodist Office for the United Nations
March 1998