Photo courtesy of Bishop Craig Loya Bishop Craig Loya met with members of the congregation of St. James Episcopal Church on Sunday morning. Loya said he was looking forward to meeting the full congregation — his last visit was two years ago when COVID shutdowns made it hard to meet everyone.

MARSHALL — St. James Episcopal Church in Marshall welcomed Bishop Craig Loya to services on Sunday. And while it wasn’t the bishop’s first visit to Marshall, Loya said he was glad to be able to spend time with more of the congregation.

“I made my first visitation when things were still pretty shut down because of COVID,” Loya said Saturday. “I’m looking forward to this time when I can meet the full congregation.”

“We are excited to have him here,” said BC Franson, junior warden of St. James Episcopal Church. In addition to presiding at services at St. James on Sunday morning, Loya confirmed two people. St. James doesn’t have a priest, so the congregation normally has a number of prayer services instead of Eucharist each month, Franson said.

Loya was ordained as 10th bishop of the Episcopal Church in Minnesota in 2020. Before that, Loya served as dean of Trinity Cathedral in Omaha from 2013 to 2020, and in the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas from 2009 to 2013.

Loya said going out to visit with the 94 Episcopal congregations spread across the state is one of his key tasks as bishop. He travels to each congregation, on a two-year cycle.

“We believe ministry happens in local congregations,” he said. Loya said it was important to walk alongside and nurture those congregations.

“I feel extremely privileged to be able to do this work,” Loya said. Getting to see all of Minnesota and meet people was one of the best parts of it, he said.

“We are excited to talk to the bishop and learn more about the programs and mission work he is doing, and how we in Marshall can contribute,” Franson said of Loya’s visit.

At the same time, Loya said it was “inspiring to me” the way the St. James congregation worked to live by the principles of their faith. Earlier this year, St. James was one of 25 houses of worship that took part in a project by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul on police and community interactions. Part of the project involved having some difficult conversations about tensions between community members and law enforcement in Minnesota, Franson said.

“We talked about guiding principles that should lead peace officers as they perform their duties working with all members of our community,” she said.

The group called for goals including training peace officers to prevent unnecessary use of force, and building respect and empathy between peace officers and the community.

Loya said welcoming all people, as in the Episcopal Church’s slogan “The Episcopal Church welcomes you,” is something the church takes seriously.

“We mean everyone, no matter what your background is, no matter who you love,” Loya said.

Franson said St. James welcomes people who want to attend services, as well as anyone looking to contribute their talents of singing, playing the piano or organ, or leading worship.

“We believe all people are children of God and are welcome to worship,” she said.