The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut, was elected the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts on Nov. 15. Photo: Diocese of Western Massachusetts
[Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts] The Very Rev. Miguelina Howell, dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, Connecticut, was elected the 10th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts on Nov. 15.
She was elected on the first ballot during the election, which took place as part of the annual diocesan convention at UMASS Amherst.
“We are in this together,” Howell said via Zoom to the delegates of the convention. “I am blessed and humbled to have been elected to serve as your 10th bishop. Thanks be to God and thanks be to you for placing your sacred trust in me through your prayerful votes. I look forward to working with Bishop Fisher, the standing committee and the transition team to embrace the next steps before the consecration in April. I am excited to lead you as your new bishop. My commitment to God and to you, my new Western Mass family, is that as we begin this mutual ministry, I will honor the deep spiritual grounding and the commitment to social justice that have shaped your past episcopates. In this new season, we will work together to reimagine and implement systems and processes that help us become nimbler in God’s mission, and we are going to have fun while we are at it! I look forward to what God has in store for us. Dios les bendiga!”
Howell has been dean of Christ Church Cathedral since 2016. Before that call, she served the cathedral for two years as vicar. She holds a theological degree from Centros de Estudios Teológicos in the Dominican Republic, and is a licensed clinical psychologist trained at Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña, also in the Dominican Republic.
Other nominees were the Rev. Susan B. Fortunato, rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, and the Very Rev. Marcus George Halley, chaplain to the college and dean of spiritual and religious life at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Howell will succeed Bishop Doug Fisher, 70, who announced in September 2024 that he would retire in April 2026. Fisher was consecrated the ninth bishop on Dec. 1, 2012.
Pending the canonically required consent of a majority of The Episcopal Church’s diocesan standing committees and bishops with jurisdiction, Howell will be ordained and consecrated bishop on April 25, 2026. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is scheduled to officiate.
Western Massachusetts, established as a diocese in 1901, has 50-plus congregations and community-based ministries that span from the Berkshires through the Connecticut River Valley to Worcester County. There are over 10,000 baptized Episcopalians in Western Massachusetts.