Bishop Mary Ann Swenson

United Methodist Church Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, from the United States, is one of the vice-moderators of the WCC Central Committee

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, one of the vice-moderators of the WCC Central Committee. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson

Vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee

Bishop Mary Ann Swenson was ordained to the ministry by the Pacific Northwest Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church (UMC) in 1973. Swenson also served as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, Wenatchee, Washington from 1989 to 1992. While a pastor in Wenatchee, she also served as president of both the Board of Directors of the Rape Crisis and Domestic Violence Center, and on the Board of Directors of the North Central Washington AIDS Coalition from 1989 to 1992.

Swenson was elected to the episcopacy of the United Methodist Church by the 1992 Western Jurisdictional Conference. She now serves as president of the church's General Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-religious Concerns (GCCUIC).