At first glance the only similarity between Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Emporia, Kansas, is the wind. Buenos Aires is Spanish for fair wind. Emporia, located off I-35 in the heart of the Great Plains, has many “buenos aires.” Any Kansan will tell you that walking down Emporia’s Commercial Street on a windy spring afternoon is no small feat.
That seemed to be the extent of similarities until Bishop Daniel Genovesi arrived in town and became rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and multicultural pastoral consultant for the Diocese of Kansas.
Genovesi was born and grew up as a Roman Catholic in Argentina. Ordained a deacon and then a priest, Genovesi discovered Anglicanism after moving to Buenos Aries as a young adult. There, Genovesi served as rector of the Anglican San Marcos Church for 12 years. Before his entry into Anglican ministry, Genovesi met his soon-to-be wife, Mercedes, while he was a priest and she was a nun.
While serving as rector of San Marcos, Genovesi began working as the provincial secretary for the Anglican Province of South America. “That was a wonderful time,” Genovesi said. “Being part of a global church with a deep spirit of dialogue was one of the things that drew me to Anglicanism.” As provincial secretary, Genovesi represented South America among other Anglican bodies around the world, from Ireland to Africa. “It was then that I began sensing the growing division between Anglicans in the Global North and South.”
The Rev. David Copley, director of global partnerships and mission personnel for the Episcopal Church, invited Genovesi to New York in 2016. “The entire trip was powerful,” Genovesi said, “because as I sat down in my seat bound for New York, I received an email from my province forbidding me from interacting with clergy and members of the Episcopal Church. It was heartbreaking.” Then as now, many dioceses within the Anglican Church of South America were in strained communion with the Episcopal Church amid debates about marriage. Unable to leave the aircraft by then, Genovesi made his way to America.
Recounting his first meeting after arriving in New York, Genovesi described a moment of reconciliation: “The first thing these Episcopalians did was ask for forgiveness. I recall them saying, ‘Several times we have spoken about your church and said not good things. We have neglected to consult you. This was not a Christian act.’”
Genovesi responded by granting his forgiveness and asking for the same on behalf of Global South Anglicans. “It was holy. It was beautiful. Though you do not often see it in headlines or press releases, reconciliation is real and it happened there in New York.” Genovesi spent the duration of his visit in fellowship with clergy across the Northeast and connecting with seminary faculty.
Two years after his visit with Episcopalians in the United States, Genovesi was elected Bishop of Uruguay by the province’s House of Bishops. “I was excited and honored to do this important ministry,” Genovesi said. “I saw it as a further sign of hope and reconciliation to be elected by my province’s House of Bishops, especially after the initially mixed reaction to my visit with members of the Episcopal Church two years prior.” In 2019 Genovesi was consecrated at Buenos Aires Cathedral and sent to Uruguay.
As bishop, Genovesi oversaw the successful fulfillment of several key goals. “I really focused on ensuring the flourishing of the dioceses’ youth,” Genovesi said. He also sought to financially shore up his parish churches, collect previously nonexistent parochial data, and equip and train new clergy. “Finally, I tried to repair the relationship between the Diocese of Uruguay, which is in one of the most secular nations on the continent, with the rest of the province.” After five years, Genovesi left the diocese with a sense of having accomplished the work he had been given to do.
“Then the thoughts of ‘now what?’ entered my mind,” Genovesi said. As part of the Episcopal Church’s commitment to building and strengthening global Anglican relations, after Genovesi’s election, he was invited to attend the Episcopal Church’s College for Bishops. “I learned so much there,” Genovesi said.
COVID-19 forced Genovesi’s cohort online. “Probably the most important thing I did was meet so many new bishops. I continued to keep in touch with many via Zoom.” One person he met was Cathleen Chittenden Bascom, 10th Bishop of Kansas. “We were baby bishops together,” Bascom said.
For the duration of Genovesi’s ministry in Uruguay, Bascom and Genovesi spoke twice a year via Zoom. After hearing of Genovesi’s retirement and sensing a growing need for multicultural ministry, especially in the rural areas of her diocese, Bascom invited him to Kansas.
Genovesi’s daughter was the first to visit Kansas, serving as an intern for the Bethany House & Garden in Topeka, a contemplative and teaching ministry of the Diocese of Kansas. Soon the rest of the family followed, first living in Topeka and then Emporia.
“After about a year as rector of St. Andrew’s, we are doing many wonderful things,” says Genovesi said. “It took a little while to understand the American way, but I have found a lovely community in Emporia.”
The parish now has a group dedicated to the intersection of spirituality and psychology, a topic Genovesi has covered in numerous books. “We are also offering weekly Latino times of prayer that include community meals. At a time when migrants are facing crises around every corner, the spiritual community is important.”
Genovesi has begun to collaborate with Kevin Rabas, Poet Laureate of Kansas (2017-19) and Emporia State University professor of English, to interview and record the stories of migrants in Kansas, a number of whom are Genovesi’s parishioners.
Around the Diocese of Kansas, Genovesi acts as a chaplain to priests of Latino congregations, especially in Wichita and Kansas City.
“My life journey has been about learning to work outside the box, with new people, in new places—encountering all sorts of theology and perspectives with an open mind,” Genovesi said. “I am happy to say I have found that in Kansas.”
Weston Curnow, a recent Kansas University graduate, is a student at Duke Divinity School, preparing for ordination in the Diocese of Kansas.
