Rector
Lu-Anne Conner
The Reverend Lu-Anne Conner comes to us from her position as Associate Rector of St. Elizabeth’s in Ridgewood, New Jersey, where she has served with distinction since her ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Chilton Knudsen in 2002. St. Elizabeth’s is a truly vibrant and healthy traditional parish in a suburb of New York, one of the plum parishes in the Diocese of Newark. It is teeming with youth involvement, most of it under the mentorship of Lu-Anne. There she excels in a parish with many similarities to our own: an engaged congregation in a highly desirable area which enjoys financial health and stability and which deeply values its music and its liturgy.
A native of New England, Lu-Anne, age 48, received her B.A. in American History from Connecticut College in 1984. For several years, she worked in the insurance industry in southern Maine where she attended the Cathedral of St. Luke, before leaving to attend seminary in New York City. Lu-Anne received her M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in May 2001 and was ordained to the diaconate by the Rt. Rev. Chilton Knudsen in June 2001. Lu-Anne returns often to Maine to visit her mother in Kennebunk, where her mother and late father had retired.
At St. Elizabeth’s, Lu-Anne has been sharing fully with the Rector in the preaching, teaching, liturgical leadership, and pastoral care of the parish. During the Rector’s Sabbatical, she served most ably as Sabbatical Rector overseeing a staff of eight, providing a particular focus on welcoming and incorporating new members, and teaching others to do the same. Lu-Anne’s ministry includes a special emphasis on pastoral care, and she has much experience with home and hospital visitations as well as in leading services for healing. One of her greatest skills is in working collaboratively with staff, students and parents to build bridges between youth and the life of the church. Remarkably, 75 percent of their 8th grade confirmands maintain consistent involvement in parish life throughout high school! She trains and supervises an acolyte corps of over 40 members from grades 4 through 12, teaching liturgical and leadership skills.