The Rt. Rev. Mark A. Cowell became the sixth Bishop of Western Kansas in a consecration service led by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry on Dec. 1. He succeeds he Rt. Rev. Michael Milliken, who served the diocese for nearly seven years.
Bishop Cowell will lead Episcopalians in a largely rural diocese covering the western counties of Kansas. Like his predecessor, Cowell will be a bivocational bishop. A lawyer who once prosecuted gang members in Dodge City, the new bishop will continue to serve as vicar of Sts. Mary and Martha of Bethany in Larned and of Holy Nativity in Kinsley. He also works part time as Dodge City’s municipal prosecutor and is currently in his second term as Hodgeman County attorney.
Assisting Bishop Curry were the Rt. Rev. Michael Milliken, fifth Bishop of Western Kansas; the Rt. Reverend James Adams, fourth Bishop of Western Kansas; and the Rt. Reverend Martin Fields, Bishop of Western Missouri.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
