Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Spring 2012 Issue

THE REV. CANON SUE SOMMER Subdean and Canon Pastor of Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral Diocese of West Missouri The Rev. Canon Susan Sommer recently served for 18 months as priest-in-charge at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City, Mo. (Diocese of West Missouri), where she had previously served (and currently serves) as subdean and canon pastor. She also chairs the diocesan board of examining chaplains and chairs the diocesan committee on liturgy and spirituality. She is married to Rick Sommer and they have one daughter, Catherine Grace. Prior to serving at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, Sommer served as vicar of Grace Church, New Lenox, Ill. (Diocese of Chicago), and as associate rector at Emmanuel Church, LaGrange, Ill. (Diocese of Chicago). She is a graduate of Central Michigan University and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. Sommer, 55, has been ordained 18 years. PASTOR-PROPHET BAPTISMAL COVENANT The roles of pastor and prophet in parish ministry are both sides of the same coin – which is to say that I cannot imagine one without the other. The old cliché about being called to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable is not without its truth. But the larger truth is that in order to be an effective pastor OR prophet, my parish and I must build and tend to a relationship of mutual trust that is above all else grounded in faith in the hesed (tender mercy) God has for all creation. Absent that trust, and my pastoring of hurting people is better handled by a qualified social worker. Absent that trust, and my prophetic voice to people inured to systemic injustice becomes nagging noise. Trust is the key in balancing those roles as priest, and I believe it would be the key as bishop as well. And trust is predicated on presence. Being an effective pastor requires me to be reliably “in the room” with the hurting people; being an effective prophet requires being “in the room” with the elephant no one wishes to name. Both situations require me to speak the truth in love. I envision this being more complicated as bishop suffragan because the room is larger, so to speak, and the presenting issues more complex. The tools – compassion, discernment, courage and truth-telling – I believe are the same. 8 HEROES & HEROINES Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a spiritual heroine of mine. She was reared in the midst of early-19th century American middle-class white privilege. Yet her father bucked c \

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