TO WELCOME THE RIGHT REVEREND DR. RICHARD FRANKLIN NORRIS, THE 116TH CONSECRATED BISHOP OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AND HIS BELOVED WIFE, MOTHER MARY ANN NORRIS, TO SOUTH CAROLINA AND TO HONOR THEM FOR THEIR LONG AND DEDICATED SERVICE TO THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina Senate are pleased to learn that Bishop Richard Franklin Norris was appointed to serve the Seventh Episcopal District encompassing the State of South Carolina at the Forty-Ninth Quadrennial Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 2012; and

Whereas, at a young age, Bishop Norris' family moved to Philadelphia, and after he graduated from West Philadelphia High School, he attended Morris Brown College, then transferred to and graduated from Rutgers University; and

Whereas, he received a call to the ministry at age fifteen, and in answer to that call he attended the New Brunswick Theological Seminary and the New York Theological Seminary, where he earned a doctor of ministry degree; and

Whereas, in addition to numerous honorary doctorates, he has received fellowships from the Ford Foundation Urban Training Center (Chicago), Lilly Foundation, New York City Mission Society, and New York Theological Seminary; and

Whereas, from 1986, Bishop Norris served the First Episcopal District of the AME Church in Pennsylvania, Bermuda, New Jersey, New York, and Philadelphia, and in 2000, he was consecrated as the 116th AME Bishop; and

Whereas, he served the 14th AME Episcopal District in West Africa, which includes Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Cote D'Ivoire, where he led in spiritual and educational development and rebuilt churches, schools, and universities destroyed by the region's ongoing unrest; and

Whereas, in June 2004, Bishop Norris was appointed to the First District, which includes the eastern half of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, New England, and Bermuda; and

Whereas, an avid student of history who loves the beautiful and consoling strains produced in the timbre and pitch of pipe organs, he now joins a long tradition of bishops in the Palmetto State who have taken an active and meaningful interest in social as well as congregational issues; and

Whereas, together with his beloved wife and cherished companion of more than forty years, Mother Mary Ann Norris, who serves as the AME Episcopal Supervisor of the First Episcopal District in South Carolina, he has reared two fine sons, Richard F. Norris II and Reverend Marcellus A. Norris; and

Whereas, the South Carolina Senate is grateful for the outstanding ministry that Bishop Richard Franklin Norris has had worldwide, and the members appreciate his significant service to the physical and spiritual welfare of the citizens in our State. Now, therefore,

Be it resolved by the Senate:

That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, welcome the Right Reverend Dr. Richard Franklin Norris, the 116th consecrated bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and his beloved wife, Mother Mary Ann Norris, to South Carolina and honor them for their long and dedicated service to the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to the Right Reverend Dr. Richard Franklin Norris and Mother Mary Ann Norris.