Rev. Marlowe Washington leaves A.M.E. church to stay in Rochester
Mark Mock • Staff writer • June 24, 2010 – DemocratAndChronicle.com
The Rev. Marlowe Washington will no longer serve as pastor for Baber African Methodist Episcopal Church in Rochester after working with the church for five years.
After a planning meeting in Philadelphia on Saturday, Bishop Richard Norris transferred Washington from his current post to lead a congregation in Queens.
After weighing the vows he made to the church and to his wife, who has been receiving treatment for a brain tumor, Washington chose to stay in Rochester.
“I was concerned and I was shocked,” Washington said after he found out about the transfer.
“My work here, as far as I am concerned, is not done.”
Washington said reverends in A.M.E. churches work on what is called a circuit and serve at the pleasure of the bishop, who can transfer reverends as he sees fit.
Julius Dicks, music director for Baber A.M.E., said that while such a move isn’t uncommon, he did not agree with the swift manner in which Washington was transferred.
The announcement of Washington’s transfer came on Saturday, and the new pastor at Baber A.M.E. began on Sunday.
Washington said he plans to continue his work for educational reform and public safety and remain chairman of the Rochester Literacy Movement.
“I am really committed to the city. My church bureaucracy told me to move to New York City, but God told me to stay here,” Washington said.
Though he said he still loves Baber A.M.E., he said he won’t attend services so that parishioners can get to know their new pastor, the Rev. James Simmons, who is from a congregation in Schenectady.
MMOCK@DemocratandChronicle.com
