Springfield bishop not re-elected to the board, forcing him to step down as its chairman

The Bishop of Springfield has been ousted from the Board of Directors of Nashotah House. At a meeting of the Corporation of the seminary on 19 Oct 2017, the Rt. Rev. Daniel Martins was not reelected to the Board of Directors by the members of the seminary Corporation.  The board elected the Rev. Canon Edward R. Monk SSC, (pictured) rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Corsicana, Texas in the Diocese of Dallas.

In his on-line diary, “Moving Diagonally” Bishop Martins wrote that the meeting of the corporation had been “fairly routine, save for the results of the election and reelection of members of the Board of Directors, of which I have been the chairman for five years.”

“I was not reelected. This is a shock–to me and to many others,” Bishop Martins wrote, adding: “There are complicated political forces in play, which is probably all I should say in this venue. It will take me a while to process this, but I can say that *part* of what I will feel is relieved of a great burden of time and energy that has gone into my board duties. But it is a shock.”

The acting dean of the seminary, Dr. Garwood Anderson, confirmed Bishop Martins had not been re-elected, and Canon Monk elected chairman in his place. Bishop Martins “remains a member of the Corporation – the larger body that supports the seminary, whence are drawn members for the Board of Directors, and which elects members to the Board of Directors,” wrote Dr. Anderson.

A native of Texas, Canon Monk was educated at Baylor University and graduated from Nashotah House in 1999. He was ordained ordained deacon in November 1998, and priest in 1999 by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC, Bishop of Quincy (Illinois), and served his curacy as Christian Formation at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Peoria, IL.

He was appointed Canon Residentiary of the Quincy Cathedral in 1999, and in 2003 was called to St John’s in Corsicana. In 2003 he was made an honorary canon of the diocese of Quincy. In the Diocese of Dallas Canon Monk has served as president of the standing committee and as a deputy to General Convention.

Members of the corporation contacted by Anglican Ink declined to state on the record the reasons for Bishop Martin’s ouster, citing the confidentiality of their proceedings. However, sources within the seminary state there has been some disquiet with the school’s leadership within the wider Nashotah House community over how it has managed relations between the Episcopal and Anglican factions.