Vermont’s Episcopal Church has a new leader

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The Episcopal Church in Vermont has a new leader who is the first black bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont.

A consecration ceremony was held Saturday for the Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown.

Her priority will be welcoming people of all backgrounds and ages, she said.

“We can’t just be about prayer and singing. Those are so important, but we actually have to be engaged in the world around us, and investing our time and energy in it,” she said.

MacVean-Brown was raised in Detroit and most recently worked in Indiana. She said she’s experienced feeling isolated as a black woman. Now she strives for inclusivity in the church.

“(Our mission) just has to be lived actively with concern for those who we find around us and finding whatever means we can to include more people,” MacVean-Brown told mynbc5.com.

The Episcopal Church of Vermont has more than 6,100 parishioners in 45 congregations around the state.

Ann Guillot, a member of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, told WCAX-TV that she hopes MacVean-Brown’s presence will bring in new members and welcome back others. “I hope it will open up the doors for all of us who are inactive members or active members,” she said.

MacVean-Brown succeeds Bishop Thomas Ely, who served for 18 years and is retiring.

“I am where I am supposed to be,” she said. “God didn’t give me the experiences that I had to just ignore them.”