GEMN Board elects four officers for 2024-25 ministry year

At its August 6 meeting the Board of the Global Episcopal Mission Network elected the network’s officers for the 2024-25 ministry year.

The Rev. Paul Rajan, vicar of Good Shepherd Church in Wantage in the Diocese of Newark, was elected president.  Originally from Tirunelveli Diocese in the Church of South India, Paul was a cross-cultural missionary in the Indian state of Karnataka. In New Zealand he worked among migrant communities of Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, Fijian Indians, Sri Lankans, Ghanaians, Nigerians and the Asian and Indian diaspora communities through Global Peace Mission.  In the USA he has pioneered InterChristian Initiatives, a mission to reach and teach.  He is an active chaplain of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education.  His education includes the M.A. from Madurai University, India, M.Div. from Interfaith Seminary in New York, and D.Min. from Liberty University.

Paul follows Ayda Patricia Martin of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, who had served as president since 2022 and resigned the post due to her medical school studies, although she continues on the Board.  Board members expressed deep appreciation for Ayda’s leadership and contributions, especially her tending to GEMN’s social media and her outreach to dioceses in Province IX.

Molly O’Brien of the Diocese of New Hampshire was elected vice president.  A former interim coordinator of GEMN, Molly was, before moving to New Hampshire, a member of the Global Mission Commission of the Diocese of Pennsylvania.  After visits with Cristosal in the Iglesia Anglicana de El Salvador, Molly helped found the Vermont-based Cristosal Base Community.  She has taught high school Spanish, developed competency-based graduation plans for immigrants and refugees, and helped women re-enter their communities and the workforce after incarceration. She served as administrative coordinator for the Center for Anglican Communion Studies at Virginia Theological Seminary.  She serves on the staff of Eastern University in Pennsylvania and is community engagement manager for the Partner’s Path, a network supporting the spouses of Episcopal clergy.  She holds the B.A. in Spanish and anthropology from Smith College and M.P.A. degree from George Mason University.

Elected secretary was the Rev. Walter Brownridge, currently pastoring Christ Church in Montpelier, Vermont, a diocese where he has served as canon to the ordinary for cultural transformation.  Walter Brownridge served as a missionary of the Episcopal Church in Cape Town, South Africa from 2003 to 2006.  Ministering at St. George’s Cathedral, he became friends with Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the early years of Black majority rule.  Walter recently completed a term on General Convention’s Standing Commission on World Mission. He was a co-editor and contributor to the tribute volume of the Anglican Theological Review in honor of Tutu and a contributor to Preaching Black Lives (Matter).  He was dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Honolulu and was associate dean at the School of Theology at the University of the South.  Walter was a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and practiced law for ten years as a federal prosecutor.  Walter holds the B.A. from John Carroll University, M.Div. from General Seminary, M.A. from the University of San Diego and J.D. from Georgetown.

Bill Kunkle of the Diocese of Southwest Florida was elected treasurer.  During his decades as a mission leader Bill has organized, led and/or facilitated more than 500 short-term mission teams.  He served as executive director of the Dominican Development Group, which carries out a wide range of mission work with the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic.  He served as a DFMS appointed missionary and then as an Episcopal Volunteer in Misson (EVIM) in the D.R.  Bill has long served on the Companion Diocese Committee of Southwest Florida.  He is executive director of the Province IX Development Group.  He is the founder and president of Kunkle Contracting, Inc., a Florida-certified construction firm based in Tampa.  He studied at the University of Cincinnati.

Pictured above: Paul Rajan, Molly O’Brien, Walter Brownridge, Bill Kunkle