Announcing a Missioner Transition

Beloved in Christ,

I am writing to share the news that the Very Reverend Susan Daughtry, Dean of Formation, has accepted a call to be the Rector of Saints Luke and James in Minneapolis. Her last day with us in the diocesan office will be September 9. 

Susan is a truly remarkable and exceptionally gifted priest. Over the past eight years, she has built, from the ground up, a School for Formation for our diocese, which is raising up and training leaders for this unique place, in this unique moment. She has undertaken that innovative, hard, and complex work with deep faith, wisdom, unwavering commitment to excellence, and good humor. She has become a widely respected and consulted leader around our church in the area of local formation initiatives, and has left an extraordinary legacy that she and we should be proud of. 

Susan has also played an important role in my own formation as a bishop, and I will miss the generous support, gentle challenge, sharp insight, and collaborative partnership she has brought to the work we share very much. At the same time, it is a delight and a joy to see a great priest matched so wonderfully with a great parish. The clergy and people of Saints Luke and James have done brave and holy work in recent years as they have brought together two congregations. With this call, they are poised to do great things for God’s world with God’s help, and I am hopeful for their future together. 

About this transition, Susan has said:

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve ECMN and the School for Formation as we have sought [. . .] to find new and faithful ways to say Yes to what God is doing among us. We can be proud of that faithful work, and we can turn again to ask how we are called as a diocese to say Yes to what the Holy Spirit is doing at this new juncture. [. . .] In their recent merger and theirwork of innovation in South Minneapolis, the folks at Sts. Luke and James have moved with creativity, playfulness, care, and discernment. Their journey over the past few years has been a holy movement, and I’m humbled by the chance to serve among these giants of faith as they chart their next steps as one congregation. Read more from Susan here.

Gretchen Beck, program administrator for the diocese, and the Reverend Cindi Brickson, the School for Formation's Director of Contextual Education, have both agreed to expand their current roles with the School for Formation to ensure continuity of our programming while we make this transition. I’m deeply grateful for their willingness to do so. In the coming months, I'll be taking time to pray, and to be in conversation with folks around the diocese, as we discern what the School for Formation will need going forward. I anticipate launching a search to fill that role early next year. 

Please join me in congratulating Dean Daughtry and the people of Saints Luke and James, and in giving thanks for Susan’s ministry among us. 

Grace and Peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop
The Episcopal Church in Minnesota