First Hispanic/Latina Woman to be Elected to the Episcopacy to the Western Jurisdiction.
Minerva G. Carcano was born January 20, 1954, in Edinburg, Texas.
“As a five-year-old helping my father replace the vinyl flooring in my church’s kindergarten classroom (my and one of my sister’s classroom), my father asked me to wait for him in the room as he fetched something he needed. Sitting between the old and the new roll of vinyl I felt the presence of God. It was the experience of being enveloped in God’s love. I felt a sense of homecoming. From that moment forth I believed that I was meant to live in God’s house. At that age I did not know what it all meant. I could not even articulate the experience, but
in the years that followed, the experience never left me. I knew then that I belonged to God and would serve God.
“When I started in ministry, congregations protested my appointment to them because I was a woman, but we grew to love each other in spite of the initial resistance. I knew that I was there to be their pastor and not to prove to them that I was called to ordained ministry. It was not always easy, but the support of other women and men, both clergy and lay, and that of my family, strengthened me. Above all, God has been faithful, loving, and gracious.” She was received into full connectionin 1980 to the Rio Grande Annual Conference. In 2004 she was elected to the episcopacy.
“I have received the gift of being able to preach and teach throughout the United Methodist connection at annual conference sessions, schools of Christian mission, and numerous general church events. God has been amazingly gracious in allowing me to serve as a clergyperson in Christ’s church. It has been a blessed journey.”