Central California diocese calls upon others to withhold consent from Martins
Their concerns stem from Martins' "involvement in the attempted separation of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin from the Episcopal Church" when he was rector of St. John the Evangelist Church in Stockton (1994-2007), according to an Oct. 16 letter Lamb has sent to diocesan bishops and standing committees throughout the Episcopal Church.
The letter calls upon bishops with jurisdiction (diocesan bishops) and standing committees to withhold their consent to Martins' consecration.
Martins, 50, was rector of St. Anne's Church in Warsaw, in the Diocese of Northern Indiana, when he was elected bishop of Springfield on Sept. 18, 2010.
According to the canons (III.11.4) of the Episcopal Church, a majority of bishops exercising jurisdiction and diocesan standing committees must consent to a bishop-elect's ordination as bishop within 120 days of receiving notice of the election.
"Our concern is not about the electing process, but about the suitability of Daniel Martins to be ordained a bishop in the Episcopal Church," the letter states.
"The consent process, as mandated by our canons, is the only way the wider church can respond to the election of a person to be a bishop," the letter continues. "Accordingly, we would ask you to join us in withholding consent for Daniel Martins to become the Bishop of Springfield."
Martins, in a telephone interview from his office at St. Anne's Church in Warsaw, said he was "saddened by the letter. I wish the Diocese of San Joaquin had contacted me first with their concerns so we could have talked about it."
He said that the material cited in the letter, and also posted on the San Joaquin website, "represents an assortment of questionable documents … incomplete information taken out of context that leads to an erroneous conclusion."
That conclusion -- that he might consider leading the Springfield diocese to break with the Episcopal Church -- couldn't be farther from the truth, he said.
"Am I going to lead the diocese out of the Episcopal Church? No. No, that's not anywhere on my mind and nowhere on anybody in Springfield's mind," Martins said. "I wouldn't have allowed my name to go forward in the process for bishop if it was.
"My vocation is to be in the Episcopal Church and I'm quite clear about that. I've never felt more called to a ministry in my life. I've fallen in love with the Diocese of Springfield and I'm excited about the possibilities for ministry. I feel good about the work we will be able to do in the next 10 or 11 years.
"I'm a little mystified why people would think otherwise. I've had plenty of opportunities to leave. I could have stayed in San Joaquin and left."
The Rev. Christopher Ashmore, president of the Springfield Standing Committee, said he was satisfied with Martins' responses during the search process.
"I asked him point blank, 'do you have any intentions of trying to exit the Episcopal Church' and he said 'no, it's not my agenda,'" said Ashmore. He added that he's received inquiries from "a couple of standing committees expressing concerns" regarding the same subject.
"I don't know how the wider church will respond to this, but if it's a difficulty with standing committees or bishops my hope is that they will take time to inquire more deeply, to talk to us or Fr. Martins about it," Ashmore said.
"Consent is a part of who we are and what we do and it needs to be honored," he added. "But I would hope the way we go about doing that would reflect the fact that we're Christians and not out to accomplish particular ends in mind."
Martins said that some in the diocese of San Joaquin might have perceived he was part of Schofield's inner circle. "But, in fact he was very upset with me my last year in the diocese."
Lamb's letter was timed "before the consent process is in full swing" to give others a chance to review pertinent information about Martins. It referred readers to several documents posted on the San Joaquin diocese's website, which cite Martins' apparent participation in plans to separate the diocese from the Episcopal Church under the leadership of former bishop John-David Schofield.
"The Standing Committee and I contend Daniel Martins was instrumental to the process that led to first and second votes by the diocese to change the Constitutions and Canons that resulted in the failed attempt to unilaterally leave the Episcopal Church," according to the Oct. 16 letter.
Schofield, who had cited theological differences over ordaining women and gays, had been at odds with the direction of the Episcopal Church and the 2003 consecration of the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire and the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
According to the letter, at the December 2006 diocesan convention Schofield cited Martins' participation in writing the amendment to the diocesan constitution and canons Schofield used to attempt to leave the Episcopal Church.
Martins said that while he did not overtly oppose Schofield's intentions to leave the Episcopal Church, he was attempting to "blunt and subvert them" by continuing to participate as much as possible on the diocesan standing committee and in other key roles, including as a General Convention deputy.
While acknowledging that he did participate in writing the amendment and voted for it on the first reading, Martins disputed that it led to the break with the Episcopal Church. He left before the convention was asked to vote on the second reading of the amendment, required for it to take effect.
"What led to the break with the Episcopal Church was a canonical change and I was not there for the canonical change," having left in 2007 to become St. Anne's rector.
On Dec. 8, 2007, a majority of congregations meeting at the diocesan convention, under the direction of Schofield, voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and to realign with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, but attempted to keep church property and assets.
A California Superior court ruled July 23, 2009, that a diocese cannot leave the Episcopal Church and that Lamb is the head of the continuing diocese. Schofield was ordered to relinquish all money, property and any assumed authority. That case is still being litigated.
A Fifth District Court of Appeal judge in Fresno heard oral arguments in the case on Oct. 20 and is expected to issue a ruling within 90 days, according to diocesan chancellor Mike Glass.
Lamb's Oct. 16 letter also cited excerpts from Martins blog, "Confessions of a Carioca" including a July 13, 2008, entry in which Martins said he did not recognize the constitutional foundation of the continuing diocese of San Joaquin, "nor the authority of Bishop Jerry Lamb.
"By any rational reading of the Constitution & Canons of the Episcopal Church, we're talking about a bogus diocese with a bogus bishop, though they have some impressive-looking stationery," Martins blogged.
"That they exist at all, and are able to maintain the chimera of legitimacy is a result only of the raw exercise of naked political power on the part of the presiding bishop. She is manifestly guilty of presentable offenses but it will never happen because the political calculus just isn't there."
Asked to comment on that blog, Martins said that while he bears no ill will toward Lamb, he believes that diocesan canons weren't strictly adhered to when reconstituting the Episcopal diocese after the split.
"The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin is what it is and Bishop Lamb is the bishop. Beyond that, I've gotten over it.
"I say that with the realization that the presiding bishop will be my chief consecrator," he said Oct. 29. "I respect her personally, I respect the office, but I still think she made the wrong call. I would hope that in a church that prides itself on its democratic polity, that responsible public criticism of leaders done in a non-inflammatory manner should be within the bounds of acceptability."
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