Bishop Matthew Cowden

WHEELING — Bishop Matthew Cowden of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia visited Lawrencefield Parish Church on Sunday to help celebrate the Lenten season in the Ohio Valley.

Cowden was consecrated in 2022, making him the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia. With the Easter holiday upon us, Cowden wanted to remind the community that Lent is a way for them to give up a habit or a trait that may be deemed unhealthy either physically or mentally.

“It is the season of Lent, the 40 days in preparation before Easter,” Cowden said, “which is highly important to us as the kind of Christians that we are for preparing our hearts, our minds and our souls to celebrate Easter.

“It’s also putting aside those things that have been bothering us and weighing on our souls,” he added. “We call them sins, and we’re asking God to cleanse our hearts and minds as we take on disciplines and practices. You’ve heard of, perhaps, letting things go for Lent — but those are usually practices that are unhealthy for us — and taking on healthy practices so we are a more fitting temple of the Holy Spirit for celebrating the resurrection.”

In addition to becoming the eighth bishop in 2022, in 2024 he was awarded the honor of a doctor of divinity degree by his alma mater, Virginia Seminary.

According to the Episcopal Church’s official website, the church embraces a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell and exemplify God’s love for every human being. People of all genders and sexual orientations serve as bishops, priests, and deacons in the Episcopal Church. Laypeople and clergy work together in leadership and governance.

“As bishop, I am a shepherd of the flock around the state. And we have 55 Episcopal congregations all over the state, in the Diocese of West Virginia, and my role as bishop is to be a shepherd who pulls together the entire flock of all of those congregations. In doing so, I actually travel from one church to the next every week,” Cowden said.

When he first became a bishop in 2022 he said that he recalls his mother telling him she thought bishops only go to churches when the church is in some sort of trouble but he said that his role of being a bishop is to travel to churches on a regular basis with the goal of keeping all 55 of the churches in his diocese connected.

The Lenten season began on Ash Wednesday and will end on Maundy Thursday, April 17.