Getting to Know our Parish Staff: Susan Roth
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.
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!