A Letter from the Senior Warden:
To the members and friends of Trinity Church, Newport:
It is with great excitement that we announce that we have called a new Rector.
After 18 months of prayer, reflection, search, and discerning God’s will for us, I am pleased to introduce the Reverend Meaghan Kelly Brower as the new Rector of Trinity Church in Newport.
Reverend Brower is a native Newporter who was raised singing in the junior choir at Trinity and attended the Episcopal Conference Center. A graduate of Rhode Island College and the Virginia Theological Seminary, Meaghan’s most current assignment is the Associate Rector at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth. Her prior roles include 11 years as Executive Director of Episcopal Conference Center of Pascoag, RI, the founding priest for Church of the Beloved in Pascoag, and Associate Rector of Emmanuel Church Southern Pines, NC. Meaghan and her husband Jonathan live in Newport with their two younger children, Sam and Emily. Their oldest son, Johvaun, lives in Florida.
Her personal relationships with Trinity and the Newport community, commitment to Christian education and Episcopalian values, and strong spiritual formation, are well aligned with the Parish’s search profile and will guide us into the future.
Reverend Brower’s start date will be August 1st, and I will share the details on a welcome reception to celebrate her call to Trinity.
I must express my sincere gratitude to our Search Committee: chair Dolores Bauer, Pam Alexander, Heather de Pinho, Anne Glenn, Jan Gordon, Morgan Huntley, Phoebe Livingston, Meryl Moore, Jim Patterson, and Jesse Tumblin, for their devotion and engagement.
Norris Commodore
Senior Warden
The Reverend Meaghan Kelly Brower
Dear Trinity,
I am so delighted to be called as your new Rector! As you have just read in Norris’ letter, I am not new to Newport, or to Trinity. In fact, many of my earliest experiences of God in community happened in your church. I can still sing the melodies I sang in the choir as a child. I remember my time serving as an acolyte when I was a teenager, and how it felt to be a leader in worship instead of a participant. I came to know the love and presence of God within those walls, and I felt my earliest tugs to priesthood there.
I could never have anticipated that decades later I would be coming back to Trinity in this new capacity, but life has a way of surprising us sometimes. And this is a happy surprise indeed!
I have certainly grown and changed since I attended Trinity as a young person, and you are not the same church you were then. Through the search process I’ve had a chance to get to know Trinity anew, and it is clear to me that you have been bold and brave. You are committed to listening for the ways God is calling you into new life, even when it has been a little bit scary to do so. You have been faithful and prayerful. I am excited and honored to return to Trinity to join you in ministry, and to do the work that God has given us to do together.
You will be in my prayers over the coming weeks, and I look forward to joining you in August!
With gratitude,
Meaghan
