Leadership Transition

The Wardens Announce the Calling of a New Rector

The Wardens are ecstatic to announce
the calling of a new Rector

After a thorough and discerning 14-month quest, the Search Committee  unanimously recommended to the Vestry and the Vestry overwhelmingly approved of
the selection of Fr. Carlos de la Torre to be the 18th Rector of The Church of the Ascension. Fr. de la Torre will assume his pastoral and sacramental duties on Sunday,
September 17, 2023. The Search Committee consisted of Cynthia Perrizo and David Schrader as Co-Chairs, Gary Alexander, Marlea Edinger, Patrick Johnston, David
Reeves, Josh Simpson, Dan Stell as members, and Father Caruso as consultant.

Fr. de la Torre is currently Rector of St. John’s, Bellefonte, an Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. Previously, Fr. de la Torre served as the Curate of Christ Church, New Haven, a historic downtown Anglo-Catholic parish in the Diocese of Connecticut. He also served as the Director of St. Hilda’s House, a residential service year program for young adults. Additionally, during his tenure in Connecticut, Fr. de la Torre was a Region Missioner, a Diocesan position aimed to encourage greater collaboration among parishes.

Fr. de la Torre has held several Diocesan and Church-wide appointments. He has served on the Commission on Ministry in the Diocese of Connecticut and Central
Pennsylvania, was elected as a clergy deputy to the General Convention and was subsequently appointed to the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the
Church. Fr. de la Torre is a member of various Catholic devotional societies and a priest associate at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Fr. de la Torre has a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. We trust you will give him a very warm Ascension welcome when you meet him.

Respectfully submitted,
LaVerne Rollé Saunders
Senior Warden

​David E. Reeves
Junior Warden

The Ascension rector search committee, working hard but still smiling, after its May 5th meeting.

On Friday, May 5th, the rector search committee met in person in the Ascension library. The meeting was held to determine which candidates would be brought to Chicago for in-person interviews. The meeting went very smoothly thanks to the goodwill of the committee members and the guidance of the diocesan consultant, Fr. Kevin Caruso. The final candidates will visit Chicago on different weekends in June. Based on information gathered during these visits along with an assessment of each candidate's entire application, the committee will make a decision on which candidate we will recommend to the Vestry to be our next rector.  Please continue to keep the committee in your prayers. 

April 26, 2023
Candidates
There are exciting developments in the new rector search committee! Six candidates, out of the ten that applied, were picked to be interviewed via Zoom by the Search Committee. All first-round interviews will be finished by Wednesday, April 26th. After reviewing all of the interviews, committee members will meet the first week of May to determine finalists. Each finalist will be brought to Chicago for an in-person interview with the committee and will also be given a chance to meet the Bishop and diocesan staff,  Ascension's vestry and staff, and celebrate a mass.  These in-person interviews will begin in June. 

New Rector Search Committee Members

Co-Chairpersons: Cynthia Perrizo and David Schrader

Cynthia Perrizo, Co-Chair

David Schrader, Co-Chair

Committee Members:
Marlea Edinger
Patrick Johnston
David Reeves
Joshua Simpson
Dan Stell
Staff Liaison: Gary Alexander

Diocesan Advisors:
Father Kevin Caruso, Trinity Episcopal Church, Wheaton
Mother Andrea Mysen, Diocesan Director of Ministries

Rector's Resignation and Retirement
In early December, 2021, Ascension's 17th  Rector, the Rev. Patrick Raymond, announced his plans to resign his ministry and retire at the end of February 2022. You can read his full letter to the parish as well as a letter from the Wardens here.  ​

Resources 

Click here for a glossary of terms that may be useful for better understanding the leadership transition process.  

Resources from the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago can be found here. 

A general introduction to interim ministry taken from the ecumenical Center for Congregational Health can be found here.