SALINA — The ordination and consecration of the Reverend Mark A. Cowell as the Sixth Bishop of The Episcopal Diocese of Western Kansas took place Friday morning, Nov. 30, at Christ Cathedral in Salina. The Chief Consecrator was the Most Reverend Michael B. Curry, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church.

In May, the Rev. Cowell was elected to serve as the Diocese of Western Kansas’ sixth bishop. A lawyer who once prosecuted gang members in Dodge City, Cowell is the vicar of Sts. Mary and Martha of Bethany in Larned and of Holy Nativity in Kinsley. He still works part-time as Dodge City’s municipal prosecutor and is serving his second term as Hodgeman County Attorney. 

The Most Rev. Michael Curry is the Chief Pastor and serves as president and chief executive officer, and as chair of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.

Presiding Bishop Curry was installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015. He was elected to a nine-year term and confirmed at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 27, 2015.

More recently, Bishop Curry delivered the sermon at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom.