510. Status of Retired Bishops--A retired bishop is a bishop of the Church in every respect and continues to function as a member of the Council of Bishops in accordance with the Constitution and other provisions of the Discipline.
1. Retired bishops may participate in the Council of Bishops and its committees but without vote. They may preside over sessions of an annual conference, provisional annual conference, or mission if requested to do so by the bishop assigned to that conference, or in the event of that bishop's incapacity, by the president of the College of Bishops to which the conference is related. In emergency situations, where the resident bishop is unable to preside, the College of Bishops shall assign an effective or retired bishop to preside over the sessions of the annual conference (51). They may not make appointments or preside at the jurisdiction or central conference. However, when a retired bishop is appointed by the Council of Bishops to a vacant episcopal area or parts of an area under the provisions of 510.3 or 511.2, that bishop may function as a bishop in the effective relationship.6
2. A retired bishop may be considered a member of an annual conference, without vote, for purposes of appointment to a local charge within the said conference.
3. A bishop retired under 509.1, .2 above may be appointed by the Council of Bishops upon recommendation of the involved College of Bishops to presidential responsibility for temporary service in an area in the case of death, resignation, disability, or procedure involving a resident bishop (2625.2). This appointment shall not continue beyond the next jurisdictional or central conference.
4. A bishop of a central conference who served as bishop up to the time of mandatory age retirement prior to the time of Union in 1968 shall be entitled to the following status and emoluments, prospectively and from the time of adoption of this provision: (1) has the right to use the title "bishop"; (2) has the right to attend sessions of the Council of Bishops; (3) has the right to have expenses paid for attendance at sessions of the Council of Bishops; (4) has the right to be seated among the bishops and retired bishops on the platform of the General Conference; (5) has the right to have expenses paid for attendance at sessions of the General Conference.
The foregoing provisions are separable and if the Judicial Council should hold one or more to be ineffective or invalid that shall not affect the others.
6See Judicial Council Decision 248.
General Conference Webmaster: Susan Brumbaugh
PETS Creator: John Brawn
1992 Book of Discipline: ¶ 510
1996 United Methodist General Conference