Getting to Know our Parish Staff: Susan Roth
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Hello! My name is Susan Roth and I am new to the Parish Office! I grew up in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, a small town outside of St. Louis and I graduated from Benedictine College in 2019 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Theology.
After graduation, I felt a pull to do a year of service and found myself moving to the desert of Phoenix, Arizona. There, I lived in community with pregnant and parenting mothers who were experiencing homelessness. I spent the year helping with the mothers’ day-to-day tasks and assisting in care of their newborns. After my year was complete, I moved back home with my parents for a while but still felt called to a life of service in a maternity home. I moved into another maternity home in St. Louis and served as their house mother for almost a year, continuing to live in community with mothers and children who were experiencing homelessness.
At the end of last year I was ready for a change and decided to relocate to the Kansas City area. A close friend of mine knew I was job searching so she decided to call up Church of the Ascension and ask if they were hiring. I had no clue that she was reaching out to a parish until after she got an answer from them! Little did I know that on the other end of the line, Fr. Gary and Sharon Weems were looking for a new employee on the administration team.
With Fr. Gary also being new to the parish, a lot of parishioners have asked me if I came from his last assignment. Clearly, from my story, no I did not – we both just happened to be searching at the same time. The Holy Spirit definitely placed me here.
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My primary job is assistant to Fr. Gary and to help parishioners access his time and expertise. He has a big flock to look after and I’m here to assist! I also help out our receptionist, Cathy, with the phones and the activity coming through the front office.
I have been so impressed with Ascension so far. Everyone that I’ve met is friendly and welcoming to my new position and me as a parishioner. I am so grateful to be serving such a vibrant community. You can find me in my office connected to the main parish reception area – peak around the partition and introduce yourself! I’ve met many new people and learned lots of names in the past few months, and I look forward to learning more!