The Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Brown

The Right Reverend Thomas J. Brown is the tenth bishop of Maine.

A native of Michigan, Brown graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo College in 1988. After receiving his Master of Divinity degree from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, in 1997, he was ordained a priest in Kalamazoo on Jan. 18, 1998.

For three years Brown worked as alumni and church relations director and adjunct faculty at the seminary, while also serving as curate at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in San Francisco. He was called to be rector of St. Michael’s Church in Brattleboro, Vermont in 2000. Brattleboro is where he met his husband, the Rev. Tom Mousin. The blessing of their civil union, in 2003, was an occasion for the Diocese of Vermont to help lead The Episcopal Church to full inclusion of LGBTQ+ people.

In 2009, Brown became rector of the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, Massachusetts. He was a deputy to several General Conventions, a trustee of the Church Pension Fund, and the co-chair of the Diocese of Massachusetts’ $20M capital campaign.

He was elected Bishop of Maine at a special diocesan convention on Feb. 9, 2019, succeeding the Right Reverend Stephen T. Lane, and was consecrated on June 22, 2019.

The first years of his ministry were spent leading the diocese through the pandemic, which revealed the values that have continued to guide his episcopacy: collegiality, trust, invitation, integration, and above all, the cultivation of joy. He also spends a great deal of time on the road. Each year, he logs thousands of miles crisscrossing the state, occasionally leaving behind a vestment or his crozier in a church sacristy—and is always grateful to those who ensure their return.

Beyond the diocese, Brown serves on the College for Bishops Board of Directors, and Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has appointed him to two subcommittees of the Executive Council: the Joint Budget Committee and the Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility.

He and Mousin live in Portland, where Mousin serves as rector of St. Peter’s Church and as a chaplain at Hospice of Southern Maine. When they are not in the beautiful state of Maine, they’re on Round Island in the Thousands Islands region of New York, where they’ve spent leisure time for two decades.