The Rev. Anita Braden, who has served most recently as canon to the ordinary and chief of staff for the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona, has been named interim missioner for African Descent Ministries for The Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Lester Mackenzie, chief of mission program for the church, announced Braden’s appointment to the House of Bishops earlier today.
“We stand on the shoulders of those who built this ministry with love and faith. The Rev. Anita Braden honors that foundation—and she is ready to carry it forward,” Mackenzie said.
Braden, who has also been serving as vice chair of the church’s Standing Commission on Structure, Governance, Constitution, and Canons, holds a master’s degree in biblical studies and is pursuing a doctorate of ministry at Virginia Theological Seminary.
She has decades of church leadership experience, including serving as a rector and diocesan urban missioner for the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee; assistant to the rector at Trinity Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.; and as chaplain and department head at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.
In addition to her standing commission role, she has served on churchwide Title IV committees and was a member of the Transition Ministry Board for The Episcopal Church. A member of the Union of Black Episcopalians, she is experienced in diocesan anti-racism and formation leadership and has served as a spiritual director for seminarians.
As interim African Descent missioner, Braden will help build and strengthen relationships with Black Episcopalians, seeking to connect dioceses and support leaders of African Descent at every level of church life. She will work with other Church Center colleagues to nurture ethnic ministry development throughout the wider Episcopal Church.
Braden began her new role today.
