The new Episcopal bishop of Vermont, the Rt. Rev. Shannon MacVean-Brown, will make her first visit to St. Matthew's Church in Enosburg Falls this Sunday, Feb. 2, when she will preside and preach at the 9 a.m. service. The public is invited to attend and to meet this dynamic new leader who arrived in Vermont last fall. The church is located at 302 Church St. (the smaller church with the red door!).

Bishop Shannon, as she prefers to be called, age 52, was elected to this new ministry last May and ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral in Burlington on Sept. 28. The first African American Episcopal bishop of Vermont, she is a native of Detroit and served congregations in Detroit and Indiana before coming to Vermont.

The bishop is committed to community engagement, social justice, and leading multigenerational and multicultural communities through formation, liturgy, pastoral care, and the arts. A graduate of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, she completed a Doctor of Ministry degree in womanist theology at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit.

Established in 1853, St. Matthew's is a children-friendly, handicapped-accessible and lifestyle-inclusive congregation. It is one of 45 congregations in the Diocese of Vermont.