Episcopal Press and News
SPRINGFIELD: Diocese announces 3 nominees for bishop
Episcopal News Service. August 9, 2010 [080910-03]
Pat McCaughan
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, has announced three nominees for the diocese's next bishop. They are:
- the Rev. Matthew A. Gunter, 52, rector, St. Barnabas Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, in the Diocese of Chicago;
- the Rev. Daniel H. Martins, 58, rector, St. Anne's Church in Warsaw, Indiana, in the Diocese of Northern Indiana; and
- the Rev. Canon E. Mark Stevenson, 45, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Louisiana.
Additional biographical information on the candidates is available here.
The candidates were elected at a special nominating synod held Aug. 7 at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Springfield from an initial field of 14.
They will stand for election for 11th diocesan bishop at a special electing synod on Sept. 18, according to the Rev. Anthony Holder, president of the diocesan Standing Committee.
Stevenson was elected on the second ballot. He received 32 clergy and 60 lay votes. A total of 24 clergy and 38 laity votes were needed to elect.
Gunter and Martins were both elected on the third ballot, which required a total of 24 clergy and 37 lay votes. Gunter received 27 clergy and 51 lay votes. Martins received 35 clergy and 41 lay votes.
Nominations from the floor were not allowed. There will be no period for nomination of additional candidates by petition, Holder said.
"We used a process similar to the one used in 1991" when the Rt. Rev. Peter H. Beckwith was elected 10th bishop of the diocese, Holder said. It allows for more openness and engages more individual participation in the process than having a nominating committee select the candidates, he added.
He said the diocese is looking forward to "the next bishop [and] his vision of new leadership. Of course, with new leadership comes new direction and we are looking forward to moving ahead with him," he added.
Beckwith was consecrated Feb. 29, 1992 and retired Feb. 1, 2010. The diocese has since been under the ecclesiastical authority of the Standing Committee while the Ven. Shawn W. Denney, archdeacon of Springfield, has been serving in an administrative capacity at the diocesan center.
The electing synod is set for Sept. 18, and the consecration of the next bishop planned for March 2011.