Photo Karen Graham.
St John’s Ida
The people of St. John’s Church in Ida are excited to welcome Rev. Susan Spicer as their new Priest-in-Charge. Following the retirement of Rev. Peter Mills at the end of 2023 after sixteen and a half years with Ida and Omemee, we were uncertain about our forward path.
With thankful hears for God’s providence, we were well served by Interim Priest Rev. Canon Ric Miller along with long time St. John’s honorary Assistant Priest, Reb. Bill Montgomery. Over the past six months, our very capable Wardens and leadership team were blessed by the steady guidance of Ric and Bill. Nevertheless, we were pleasantly surprised and extremely thankful that Rev. Susan Spicer was able to join us so quickly as an answer to our prayers.
For Susan, it will be somewhat of a full circle experience. She grew up in Millbrook where her family were active members of St. Andrews United Church. She headed to McGill University in Montreal to study theatre and later to the University of Toronto for her Master’s degree. Her education and interests led to satisfying careers in both theatre and journalism, including nine years with Cavan’s 4th Line Theatre Company as an actor and director. Her interests in journalism led her to become an editor and writer for Today’s Parent magazine.
Susan eventually found a spiritual home in the Anglican Church and spent five formative years as co-ordinator of the Community Lunch program at St. John’s in Peterborough. In 2009 she responded to a deeply-felt call to ordained ministry, attended Trinity College and was ordained in 2012. She spent her first six years at the parish of Fenelon Falls where she began a youth group called “Susan’s Dinner”.
“I cooked supper every other Friday night and the kids came for food and conversation,” she explains. Her path then led her to the parish of St. George’s in Ajax, where she started a Food Bank garden. This year she joins the new Regional Ministry serving both St. John’s Ida and St. Luke’s, Peterborough.
Susan is Co-chair of the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care and has written about the urgent call to respond to the climate crisis, saying “Our response must grow out of knowing, loving and serving creation.”
In a recent article in The Anglican, she describes hiking church and considered spiritual gifts that come when folks walk together and worship in creation. In a recent interview, she talked about how much she lovs the Millbrook area, the beauty of the rolling hills and how delighted she is that her path has brought her home.
“Church begins with hospitality,” she says. “Jesus invited everyone to the table to eat, to learn his way of love, to imagine that a better world is possible.” Susan very much believes in relationship-building as a pathway to sharing the love of God. She loves helping people discover their gifts.
You are warmly invited to come and meet Rev. Susan, catch up on old relationships or make new ones. She begins her new ministry on August 11th at St. John’s Ida.
By Phil Winslow