Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Summer 2012 Issue | Page 6

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call to teaching and chaplaincy,” said
Goff. She came to Virginia to follow
that call and found herself strongly
supported by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Robert
Hall, then bishop of Virginia, who in
those days “gave not only his time and
energy and support, but money as well
to see women ordained and placed in
positions,” said Goff. Her call to school
ministry remained so strong that her
second position was also as a chaplain
at another all-girls school in the Diocese:
St. Catherine’s, Richmond.

After six years as a chaplain,
something moved Goff to parish life.
“The Holy Spirit was behind that
move,” she said. On a Sunday evening,
after serving as a supply priest that
morning at Immanuel, Old Church
in Mechanicsville, she received a call
from the chair of their rector search
committee asking if she’d consider the
position. “I had a lot to learn about how

What Is a Bishop Suffragan?
A bishop suffragan is elected by a diocese to assist the bishop diocesan. The suffragan
does not have “jurisdiction,” but authority delegated by the bishop diocesan. Also, a
bishop suffragan does not have the “right of succession” to become bishop diocesan.

a parish is structured, because I had not
ever been an associate or an assistant in
a parish,” said Goff.

It was during her time at Immanuel
that she met the Rev. Tom Holliday,
a colleague working 12 miles away
in Sandston. They connected at a
workshop for pastors of small churches
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