The Very Reverend Marjorie Bevans
mbevans@stmichaelsligonier.org
The Very Reverend Marjorie Bevans is the kind of person you would be happy to meet and chat with at the Giant Eagle or in any other community setting. She is approachable, personable, and clearly interested in you as a child of God.
A native of northern Virginia’s horse country, she is a graduate of the University of Virginia (where she majored in philosophy) and the Anglo-Catholic Nashotah House seminary. She also studied law which led to a career in the title insurance business before her call to the ministry in the late 90s. She has been an ordained Episcopal priest for 22 years, serving several parishes in the Richmond area and for the last 12 years as Rector of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Parkersburg, West Virginia. (An interesting aside is that she did missionary work among the Inuit in Alaska.) Marjorie is theologically conservative, Christ-centered and very well versed in and focused on scripture. She embraces the traditional liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. She believes teaching scripture-based theology is her principal calling. She spent the summer of 2022 in England at Oxford studying Christian Apologetics. She is keenly interested in children and young people and feels they have a strong, but unsatisfied, yearning for the life of faith and the spirit. She feels there are several ways to foster a deeper knowledge of God and community, including such things as small home groups and a Theology Pub where young adults can meet to learn about Christ’s teaching in a casual setting. Music is another way to reach out with special services for the young and offerings such as Taizé which is a prayerful form of music. She even uses her love of the outdoors as she did when she started a West Virginia chapter of “Holy Hikes”, a ministry of hiking and celebrating the Eucharist in beautiful places.
Marjorie places high value on pastoral care as well as community participation by her church. At her previous parish, Marjorie led parish involvement in a variety of important community support activities; for example, collaborating with town officials in establishing a Neighborhood Youth Academy, a community garden, and allowing Narcotics Anonymous to meet at the church.
One of Marjorie’s principal interests outside of her priestly duties is all forms of church and classical music. She has a trained choral voice and she told us that it was the Anglican musical tradition that drew her to the Episcopal Church in the first place. Her favorite pastimes are horseback riding and enjoying the outdoors. In fact, as a young priest, she served as chaplain to the owners, jockeys, and trainers at the local racetrack. Now she likes to hike and works out several days a week. Her husband, Bruce, is also an Episcopal priest. He serves two small congregations in West Virginia
Dear St. Michael's Parishioners,
I have news to share that some of you may have already heard. However, that does not diminish my joy in sharing it again! I am very pleased to tell you that we have called a new rector to St. Michael's of the Valley Episcopal Church; The Rev. Marjorie Salling Bevans will be joining us on August 1st.
I asked Marjorie if there was anything in particular that she would like for me to share with you and she said "I am overjoyed to be your new rector."
Marjorie earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at the University of Virginia in 1987 and her Masters of Divinity degree at Nashotah House Seminary in 2000. She is currently the rector of Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd in Parkersburg, West Virginia, where she has served since November 2010.
Last fall, the Profile Committee spent hours collecting and compiling information from the parish and identified our desire for a priest who would provide sound biblical teaching, sermons rooted in scripture, and embrace our tradition of welcoming all to St. Michael’s. The Discernment Committee, mindful of the needs outlined in our Parish Profile, found Marjorie to be compassionate, joyful, biblically rooted and liturgically traditional. After meeting with Marjorie, the Vestry agreed, and with the Bishop's consent, extended the call to her.
Throughout the process, there were hours of discussion, consideration and prayer. We called constantly on the Holy Spirit for guidance. It truly was a process of discernment.
I’d like to thank everyone who contributed their thoughts to the Parish Profile and for every prayer made for the Discernment Committee. We as a parish owe a great deal of thanks to Chairperson Jinny Tuscano and the Discernment Committee for their time, wisdom and commitment to selecting the best candidate for our parish.
The Vestry and I invite you to join us in welcoming Marjorie and her husband, Bruce to the Ligonier Valley as we move forward and work together to create a new spiritual journey and future for St. Michael’s.
God's Peace,
Nancy Rost, Sr. Warden
mbevans@stmichaelsligonier.org