Winnie Varghese

The Very Rev. Winnie Sara Varghese (born May 28, 1972) is the 12th dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. She is the first woman and person of color to hold this position in the Cathedral’s 133-year history.

Rev. Varghese is a widely recognized leader in the Episcopal Church. She was called “the future of our church,” by the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas, the canon theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School.^[1] Union Theological Seminary said in 2025 that "Varghese has become one of the most prominent religious voices for justice and inclusion in our time."^[2]

Varghese was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, to parents who immigrated from Kerala, India. Her family returned to India when she was young, but moved back to the U.S. several years later. As such, her first language was Malayalam, and she learned English at age four.^[3]

Although raised in the Episcopal Church, Varghese did not become fully invested in the faith until college, when she took a course on Women in the Hebrew Bible.^[3] She completed undergraduate studies at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia and Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, gaduating in 1994 with a degree in religious studies.^[3] She earned a Masters of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1999.

In 1993, as part of a yearlong Episcopal internship program, Varghese undertook outreach work with mentally ill and homeless residents in Long Beach, California.^[3]

In 1999, following her graduation from Union Theological Seminary, she was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.^[4] She was ordinated into the priesthood on January 8, 2000. She returned to the Los Angeles Diocese, working as a chaplain at UCLA and at a church in west Los Angeles.^[3] In late 2002, Varghese moved to New york City, where she was Episcopal Chaplain at Columbia University until May 2009.^[3][4]

She was elected to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church from 2006 - 2012.

In 2009, Varghese began serving as pastor and priest-in-charge of the historic St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery.^[3] In 2012, she was installed as the church's first female Rector. The Rt. Rev. Barbara C. Harris, the first woman ordained bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion, preached at the installation.^[5] While there, Varghese pushed to update the building to ensure accessibility for wheelchair users.^[6]

After leaving St. Mark's, Varghese served at Trinity Church NYC where she held several roles, including director of social justice and reconciliation,^[6] leading the domestic grants and service programs and peer leadership development for Anglican Communion leaders.

Varghese served as the Rector of St. Luke’s Atlanta from 2021^[7] to 2024.

In 2023, Varghese helped the Diocese of New York develop a credit union that serves New Yorkers with a goal of expanding access to financial services for low income households and others that may struggle to be welcomed by traditional banks.^[8] Her support for the idea was driven by her experience with a credit union established by the Diocese of Los Angeles in the 1990s.^[9]

She is a member of the Committee for Corporate Social Responsibility, Executive Council of the Episcopal Church (2023-present). She previously served as Chair of the Committee on the State of the Church, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, 2015-2018 and Voting Secretary and Deputy to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church (New York), in 2015 and 2018.

Varghese came out as queer at age 17, in the 1980s.^[3] She has two children and is married to a woman.^[4] Her brother is the comic Paul Varghese.

Varghese is a co-founder and Director of Enfleshing Witness: Rewilding Otherwise Preaching.^[10] This initiative, funded by Lilly Endowment via St. Luke’s Atlanta,^[11] supports Black, Indigenous and otherwise racially minoritized preachers in developing their preaching practices.

Varghese is a Trustee of Union Theological Seminary, 2019 - 2025.

• Auburn Theological Seminary Lives of Commitment Award, 2019^[12]
• City & State Community Engagement Power 50, 2021^[13]
• Metropolitan College of New York, Doctor of Humane Letters, June 2019^[14]

• Church Meets World^[15]
• What We Shall Become: The Future and Structure of the Episcopal Church. Church Publishing, Inc. 2013-10-01. ISBN 978-0-89869-896-1.