FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jenni Faires
Phone: (540)-342-6797
Email: [email protected]
[June 9, 2026, Roanoke, Virginia] The service of ordination and consecration for The Rev. Karin MacPhail, seventh Bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, will be held Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. at historic St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia. The Most Rev. Sean Rowe, 28th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, will serve as chief consecrator. The service will also be live streamed on the diocese’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@dioswva and will be followed by a reception hosted by St. John’s, one of the anchor churches of the downtown community.Elected on Saturday, January 31, 2026 during the annual diocesan convention, MacPhail will be the first woman to serve as bishop in the 107-year history of the diocese. MacPhail succeeds The Rt. Rev. Mark Bourlakas, who served as the diocese’s sixth bishop from March 2013 to May 2025.
“I am deeply honored at the trust that has been placed in me and humbled by the work of the Holy Spirit in this call,” said MacPhail. “I look forward with great joy to supporting and serving all of the parishes, ministries, and people of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia as we grow in unity and community together, loving and serving God and all of our neighbors, and always grounded in the love of Jesus Christ.”
MacPhail, a priest for more than 22 years, most recently served as rector of St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Roanoke, Virginia, and before then served at Christ Church in Millwood and St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville, both in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Divinity from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria. She and her husband, the Rev. Alexander MacPhail, live in Roanoke and are the parents of two college-aged children, Maggie and Peter.
One of the three orders of ordained ministers in the Episcopal Church, bishops are charged with the work of leading, supervising, and uniting the Church and are called to provide vision and leadership for their dioceses. Bishops serve as chief pastors of the Church, exercising a ministry of oversight and supervision, and they hold jurisdiction in their dioceses with particular responsibility for the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Church.
Following her consecration, MacPhail will begin her episcopate with a visit to Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Covington, Virginia on Sunday, June 21, 2026, and visits to the five regional groups of churches in the coming weeks.
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Established in 1919, the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia is made up of 50 churches, including two ecumenical parishes, and more than 9,500 communicants. The diocese also includes the Phoebe Needles Camp and Conference Center in Callaway, Grace House on the Mountain in St. Paul, Westminster Canterbury retirement community in Lynchburg, and Boys Home of Virginia in Covington. Stretching from Staunton and Waynesboro southwest along the I-81 corridor to Abingdon and Bristol, the diocese and its members are deeply committed to the work of evangelism, lifelong formation, and outreach. Information about the mission and ministry of the diocese and its member congregations can be found at www.dioswva.org.
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