Bio Info on Fred B. Morris

Fred B. Morris is the son and grandson of Methodist pastors. He is himself a pastor of the United Methodist Church. He graduated from Cornell College in Iowa with majors in English literature and history. He has a Master of Theology degree, cum laude , from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and a Master of Arts degree in Social Science (Urban Studies) from the University of Chicago.

In the early 1960s he started a new church in the Chicago suburb of Addison, IL. During his three-year ministry there, the Good Samaritan United Methodist Church became the fastest-growing church in Northern Illinois, growing to 227 members in that period. In 1963, Fred Morris became a missionary of the United Methodist Church to Brazil, where he spent eleven years.

While in Brazil he worked closely with Roman Catholic Archbishop of Recife and Olinda, Dom Helder Camara from 1970 to 1974. During this period of time he also served as resident correspondent for Time and the Associated Press . As the result of his journalistic activities and his close association with Archbishop Câmara, who was the leading opponent of the Brazilian military, who had overthrown the democratically-elected government in 1964, he was kidnapped by the Brazilian army in 1974 and spent 17 days in their torture chambers in Recife before being expelled by presidential decree as a person “prejudicial to national interests.” On his return to the United States, Time published a two-page first-person account of his experiences entitled Torture, Brazilian Style (Nov. 18, 1974). He subsequently appeared on the Today Show and more than 25 other TV talk shows in the U.S. and Canada. He testified before the U.S. Congress and lobbied for human rights in Latin America in Washington for nearly two years, and published another story in Harper’s (October, 1975 ‘In the presence of mine enemies’ )

In 1976 he went to Costa Rica, where he founded and directed his own construction company. He also taught at the National University and was associate pastor at the English-language Union Church in San Jose. In 1981 he organized the Institute for Central American Studies and began publishing Mesoamerica, an alternative newsletter about Central America that became the premier publication on the region during the 1980s. He was also the resident correspondent in Costa Rica for ABC-News from 1977 to 1988.

He returned to the United States in 1988 to assume pastorates in United Methodist Churches in the Chicago area until 1995, when he returned to Brazil as Executive Director of Ecopaz. the Institute for Ecology, Peace and Justice Studies, based in Rio de Janeiro. He also taught Ethics and Contemporary Ideologies at the Methodist University in Rio de Janeiro.

In January 1997, he received a call from the Florida Council of Churches to become the Executive Director of the Council and he assumed that post on March 1, 1997.

From August of 2000 until April of 2003 he also served as Dean of the Orlando Campus of the South Florida Center for Theological Studies.

On June 1, 2003, he assumed the position of Director for Latin American Relations of the National Council of Churches and held that position until March, 2005.

In December 2004, he founded Faith Partners of the Americas.

He is married to Argentina Morris, a native of Costa Rica.  In August, 2006, they moved to the Republic of Panama and are living in Coronado, about an hour west of Panama City on the Interamerican Highway.

To hear a sermon Fred Morris preached at the Washington National Cathedral September 21, 2003, click on: Solidarity is the New Name for Faith.

You can communicate with Fred Morris at: fced@aol.com