The Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri will ordain and consecrate the Very Rev. Amy Dafler Meaux as its ninth bishop on Saturday, May 3, 2025, in a joyful service at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Missouri.
Bishop-elect Amy will be the first female bishop “diocesan” to lead West Missouri. The Right Reverend Diane Jardine Bruce has served as bishop “provisional” since 2021.
“Over the last eighteen months, I have witnessed the enormous capacity of our people to share the good news of Jesus Christ,” Bishop-elect Amy said. “From north to south and east to west, Episcopalians in this region of Missouri share the Gospel every day through radical acts of hospitality, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and suffering, and bringing the reconciling Word of God to our communities. I am excited, honored, and privileged to officially be yoked with them in ministry.”
The Most Reverend Sean Rowe, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, will serve as chief consecrator. Four bishops from across the Episcopal Church and one bishop from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (listed below) will join in the laying on of hands, signifying the continuity of apostolic succession and the unity of the church.
Bishop-elect Amy was most recently dean and rector of Trinity Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas, after serving as rector of congregations in Louisiana, Texas, and Kentucky. She was elected Bishop of West Missouri at the diocese’s annual convention on November 9, 2024, at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Rev. Amy earned a Master of Divinity degree from the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, in 2002. Amy and her husband have been married for over 25 years and have three children.
A capacity congregation of more than 700 is expected to attend the ordination. That includes over twenty additional bishops expected within the Episcopal Church and an enthusiastic contingent of well-wishers from Little Rock. Several Episcopal churches in the diocese will join the celebration by hosting watch parties.
The ordination service will be a liturgical celebration, including readings from scripture, hymns, prayers, and the laying on of hands, which signifies the presence of the Holy Spirit and is a sign of welcoming the new bishop. Episcopalians from across the diocese will participate in various roles in the service, with music coming from a joint diocesan choir. The service will also include the presentation of the symbols of episcopal ministry, including a ring, pectoral cross, miter, and crozier. Congregants and clergy in the dioceses of West Missouri and Arkansas as well as classmates from the Seminary of the Southwest donated the funds for these gifts.
The ordination service will be livestreamed on the diocesan YouTube page, youtube.com/@diowestmoen.
The Diocese of West Missouri was founded in 1889. It is the church home of 8,800 Episcopalians in 47 congregations in the western half of Missouri.
