Cleric, social activist.
Born at Elmwood, Ontario on 7 September 1918 to Emma Louise Katherine Knapp (1894-1985) and Oscar Hagedorn Monk (1887-1969), he was raised on the family farm, then graduated in 1939 with a BA degree from Waterloo College (Wilfred Laurier University). He was ordained in 1942 after graduating that year from Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. For the next five years he was pastor in the Midville Parish of Nova Scotia. There, in 1944, he married Helen Isabelle Jacklin (1916-2004), with whom he went on to have two children.
In 1947, he moved his family to Winnipeg to become the first Executive Secretary of the Canadian Lutheran World Relief, a post he held for 15 years, and where he was responsible initially for material aid to post-war Europe and refugee settlement in Canada, and later for refugee aid to the developing world. During this period he travelled extensively in Europe and the Middle and Far East.
From 1961 to 1966 he was Executive Secretary, Division of Welfare, Canadian Lutheran Council; and from 1967 to 1976 Executive Secretary of the Division of Social Services, Lutheran Council in Canada (LCIC). In both positions, he guided the Lutheran Church on issues of social justice related to Medicare, guaranteed annual income, aging, population policy, energy, capital punishment, and aboriginal rights. During this period he returned to school to attain his Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba in 1964. He also greatly widened the LCIC association with other denominations through the countless inter-denominational committees on which he served and the conferences he attended around the world.
From 1976 to 1983 (his year of retirement), he was Consultant in Social Ministry to the Lutheran Church in America, Canada Section. Notable during these years were his ecumenical coalition work with Project North (of which he was the chair from 1981 to 1983) in support of the land rights of the Dene Nation; and his contribution to GATT-Fly (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade alternatives) on issues of human rights and global economic justice.
Beyond his social activism, in 1966 he assisted in the establishment of the Canadian Association for Pastoral Education (CAPE), where he served as a President and member of the Accreditation and Certification Committee. During his career and retirement, he frequently served as a supply pastor to many congregations. Throughout his career, he firmly believed that the church was a ministry to society, not just individuals. With his commitment to social justice, as one bishop wrote, he molded the social conscience of the Lutheran Church in Canada through his leadership.
A man of principle and underlying compassion, he was strong-minded, self-reliant, and hardworking. With his dry humour, he enjoyed telling stories about his career and farm days. Doing handyman work in house and yard, playing golf, and taking the family on summer automobile camping trips occupied much of his leisure time.
He died at Winnipeg on 18 July 2009 and was buried at Elmwood, Ontario.
Obituary [Helen Isabelle Monk], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 December 2004.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 22 July 2009.
“Clifton Lorne Monk,” Sachs Musehl Family Tree, Ancestry.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 19 April 2025
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