Missioner Profile: Bren O'Connor
by Ian Caveny,
freelance writer for the Diocese of Missouri
Lay ministry – ministry that originates in the body of believers rather than in the formal priesthood – is and should be at the heart of the church. There have been times and places when the work of lay ministry has been obscured, whether due to the normative constraints of sacramental orders or the charismatic strengths of influential leaders, but always chugging along in the background, seen or unseen, is the labor of everyday Christians investing their time and energy and loves into the mission of Jesus Christ. These lay ministers, formally and informally designated, feed the poor, heal the sick, visit those in prisons, and soothe the pain of those suffering, just as Jesus said they would: “the one who believes in Me will also do the work that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these” (John 14:12 NRSV).
Bren O’Connor, the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri’s Missioner for LGBTQIA+ Ministry, is a member of that great multitude. For her, lay ministry is more than a nice label to add under “volunteer service;” it is a vocation, a sacred calling from God.
Near the end of her studies at the University of Wisconsin in 2012, Bren O'Connor found herself contemplating this question of vocation. Her time in undergraduate had been an opportunity for deep-rooted spiritual and intellectual growth, thanks in part to the local Episcopal Church student ministry, St. Francis House. In her youth she had encountered already the beauty of the Episcopal liturgy, but it was amid the fellow students at St. Francis House that Bren encountered a group of believers pursuing justice and faith side-by-side. While considering what she wanted to do next, Bren learned about the Episcopal Service Corps from a friend and decided to move to Deaconess Anne House in the Diocese of Missouri.
The timing of her move to St. Louis turned out to be pivotal: soon after she got settled with the other ESC participants, she found herself caught up into the whirlwind of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson and the resulting protests. As part of the ecumenical ministry response, the new Deaconess Anne House members threw themselves into the work of prayer and protest, of caring and tending to those protesting, and experiencing their faith from a new angle. In the months following, Bren found herself surrounded by a community that pursued justice and devotional prayer constantly – with the regular practice of Morning Prayer amid her peers at Deaconess Anne House supporting their work in the streets in the evening.
This foundation of prayer and presence, of devotion and action, is the ground upon which Bren’s work as missioner in the Diocese was built. When the Rt. Rev. Bishop Deon Johnson called upon Bren to serve as Missioner for LGBTQIA+ Ministry, Bren took it on as an opportunity to expand the work of lay ministers throughout the church more generally. In that time she actively cultivated a vision of the church as a possibility of community for members of the LGBTQIA+ community who sincerely long for a religious home that belongs to them. Herself a trans woman, Bren feels a particular passion to the testimony of the trans community in the church, “We belong in the church, and our lives and our voices matter in the church,” she said. This central Gospel conviction has flowed through Bren’s time in ministry as missioner here.
As just one of many examples of her work, Bren represented the Diocese at STL Pride, inviting passersby to write letters of encouragement to LGBTQIA+ youth. This simple invitation had a resounding response, with many Pride-goers awestruck by the power of the opportunity. By the end of the event, Bren was able to bring 450 letters from the LGBTQIA+ community to Prism in Columbia, MO, where those letters were read and received by LGBTQIA+ youth. For Bren, this was a holy moment – building bridges between young and old, across the state, throughout the community. For her, this work echoes Jesus’ reminder about prayer, “The holiness doesn’t just come from the priest! When two or three are gathered the Holy Spirit will be among us, and this is what I am called to do.”
Her vision of such communities gathered together by the Holy Spirit inspired another event more recently when Bren organized an art show and ecumenical worship service for the Transgender Day of Visibility at Christ Church Cathedral this past March. At the service, transgender artists and community members from across the St. Louis region gathered to celebrate their lives and their faith – proclaiming the truth that their lives and their voices matter.
Beyond all this, Bren has been a regular preacher throughout the Diocese, led adult formation classes, and served as a volunteer with the Metro Trans Umbrella Group – and all this as an outgrowth of her commitment to lay ministry!
Bren is leaving the Diocese of Missouri this summer for new directions elsewhere – she feels the pull of her native Great Lakes – but she is not leaving lay ministry behind. In fact, what she leaves the Diocese with is a challenge and a vision to see more and more members of the body of Christ take up the work again and again to expand our beloved community.
The Diocese of Missouri is grateful for Bren's hard work and dedication to her ministry with us. We wish her all the best as she moves to Detroit. Bishop Deon Johnson plans to announce a new missioner for LGBTQIA+ ministry soon.
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