Order of the Ascension

Members of the Order

Susan Latimer, OA

Sister Susan grew up in Southern California, immersed in music, liturgy and the wonders of God’s Creation. Piano, piano accompanying, and singing filled her early years, along with a BA in Music from Yale and a Master’s of Music in performance from the School of Music, USC, Los Angeles. She graduated with an MDiv , Magna Cum Laude, from Candler School of Theology, Emory University and did an Internship and Residency in CPE at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta before marriage to John Roberts in May of 1992 and ordination in June and December of 1992.  

Michelle Heyne, OA

Michelle is the 8th superior of the Order - Presiding Sister

Sister Michelle brings empathy, humor, and a solid grounding in ecclesiology and effective organizational dynamics to her work as a trainer and consultant.  She is committed to helping parish leaders bring about effective change by developing the skills they need to make the most of the gifts they already have.  

Michelle served as part of the training team with the Diocese of Washington and national Shaping the Parish.  She has also done training with and received a certificate from the Church Development Institute, as well as completing NTL's Organization Development Certificate program. She is a consultant in the financial services industry for organization development and compliance issues. Michelle has extensive experience with financial management, interpersonal communications and team dynamics, and developing and implementing organizational change initiatives. She leads vestry, diocesan, and spiritual retreats, and particularly enjoys introducing Benedictine spiritual practices to lay people. She has non-profit experience in the areas of team building, strategic planning, and conflict management. She attends St. Clement’s, Seattle, and is on the parish vestry.  Sister Michelle is a Professed Member of the Order of the Ascension and the 8th superior, Presiding Sister, of the Order.

Writing: The Shaping the Parish Series of books (with Robert Gallagher) providing a broad introduction to parish development. Her book focused on individual spirituality, In Your Holy Spirit: Traditional Spiritual Practices in Today's Christian Life, is a helpful formation resource that’s been used in different kinds of parishes around the country. Understanding from Within: Working with Religious Systems, OD Practitioner, with Robert Gallagher, January 2015;  “Quality & Empowerment: Organization Development at WomenRising 1992 – 2016.”, OD Practitioner, with Robert Gallagher, Spring 2016. Saint Paul's, Seattle: Growth & Decline, with Robert Gallagher (a related web page). 

Lowell Grisham, OA

Brother Lowell was the 3rd superior, Presiding Brother, of the Order

Brother Lowell retired from full-time ministry in 2018 after nearly 38 years of ordained service, the last 20+ as Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, AR. After graduating from the General Theological Seminary in 1980, he served parishes in Mississippi and Arkansas. Lowell was the Presiding Officer of OA 1997-2000. His book "Practicing Prayer: A Handbook" was published by Ascension Press in 2016. For many years Lowell posted an almost daily Morning Reflections blog on the Daily Office Readings which was also picked up by Episcopal Cafe. 

Robert Gallagher, OA 

 Brother Robert was the 1st and 7th superior, Presiding Brother, of the Order

Brother Robert has served as the vicar of inner city parishes in Philadelphia and Trenton; been on the staff of an industrial mission that helped lay people apply their faith to issues of justice and compassion in the workplace; and was the Associate Priest for Ascetical and Practical Theology at Trinity Church, Seattle. He was an adjunct faculty in Anglican Studies at Bangor Theological Seminary. He served as chaplain to the Northwest Chapter of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross. Robert serves as the director of the Shaping the Parish program of the Order of the Ascension.

He brings 51 years of experience in leadership training and parish development. Brother Robert offers exceptional skills in facilitating shifts and changes in people and organizations. He provides practical methods and vision for a transformed parish. Robert has a masters degree in Organization Development from Goddard College. 

He’s been a consultant and trainer in religious systems, non-profit organizations and small businesses since 1970. Robert has worked on the staff of, and as a consultant to, ecumenical training organizations, an industrial mission, and metropolitan and state councils of churches. He served as the congregational development officer for the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut from 1981 - 88. He has consulted with hundreds of congregations. He has served as adjunct faculty in congregational development at Hartford Seminary and Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and was Director of the Church Development Institute at the General Theological Seminary from 1985 - 2000 and continued as the Director of the CDI- Seattle until in 2011. In recent years Robert served as a priest associate at Saint Paul's Church and Saint Clement's Church, Seattle. He's "somewhat retired" and now attends attends St.Clements, Seattle.  He is a Professed Member of the Order of the Ascension. Brother Robert was the 1st and 7th superior, Presiding Brother, of the Order.

Writing: Fill All Things: The Dynamics of Spirituality in the Parish Church, Ascension Press, 2008. Parish Assessment Workbook, Coauthor, a manual for conducting a self-study, Ascension Press, 1988; Faith Sharing, Coauthor, exercises for groups exploring life histories and spirituality. Ascension Press, 1989; Conformed to Christ: Structures and Standards for Parish Life, Coauthor, guidelines and samples of job descriptions for staff and committees. Ascension Press, 1983, revised 1988 and 2004 as a CD; Power from on High: A Model for Parish Life and Development, Ascension Press, 1982; Stay in the City, A strategy for dioceses in regard to urban parishes. Forward Movement, 1981; The Ministry of the Laity as Agents of Institutional Change, Audenshaw Documents, 1972 and a shorter version in Asian Focus, East Asian Christian Conference, 1971. In Your Holy Spirit: Shaping the Parish Through Spiritual Practices, 2011. Understanding from Within: Working with Religious Systems, OD Practitioner, with Michelle Heyne, January 2015.  “Quality & Empowerment: Organization Development at WomenRising 1992 – 2016.”, with Michelle Heyne, Spring 2016 OD Practitioner. Saint Paul's, Seattle: Growth & Decline, with Michelle Heyne (a related web page), A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery: A Practical Theology of the Parish Church, with Robert Gallagher.  PDF Robert Gallagher, OA

Scott Benhase, OA

 Brother Scott was the 2nd and 6th superior, Presiding Brother of the Order

 

 

Royster Hedgepeth, OA 

Throughout his career as a university administrator, fundraiser, independent consultant and volunteer, Brother Royster has been dedicated to increasing organizational capacity for service by helping organizations and organizational leaders create mission-driven strategic plans, increase their fundraising capacity, and cultivate strong, performance-driven staff and volunteer leaders. His approach to organization development is based on the conviction that people act positively on behalf of that which they help create.

Royster ran a college counseling center for four years, had twenty-six years of executive level educational fundraising management and sixteen years as an independent consultant serving primarily smaller faith-based and environmental organizations.

Brother Royster has served as a Senior Warden, Vestry Member, and Stewardship Chair. He is a Licensed Episcopal Preacher, a lay Eucharistic minister and visitor, chair of the Friday morning Bible Study, and a member of the Community of Hope. He and his wife, Kathryn have led third, fourth, and fifth Sunday worship services for 14 years at the Kempton, an assisted living center in Wilmington. He is also involved in Senior Adult Ministries, a collaborative effort to provide worship services at retirement and assisted living centers in the Wilmington, NC area. He served two terms on the board of the Diocesan Camp and Conference Center and is currently on the Development Committee of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust. He has also “come out of retirement” to help The Lord’s Food Pantry in Shallotte, NC build a new food distribution center. Royster received his BA in Religion from Wake Forest University, his Med in guidance and counseling from the University of Florida, and his PhD in Administration of Higher Education from Cornell University.

He is veteran, having served in the US Army, 1969-1971. Royster currently lives with his wife, Kathryn, in Wilmington NC. He has two children and four grandchildren. He enjoys cooking, travel, art, jazz, bridge, and golf and is a stained-glass artisan.

  

 

 

Gawain de Leeuw, OA   

 

Brother Gawain was raised in Rochester, New York, where he was baptized and confirmed at Christ Church. He was ordained to the priesthood there in 1996 by the late Rt. Rev. William Burrill on the feast day of Evelyn Underhill, and took his first promise in 2012.

He has served congregations in Seoul, Korea, and White Plains, New York, including twenty years at St. Bartholomew's, where he founded a dinner church, partnered with a multicultural preschool, and launched a Spanish-language service. During that time he was active in county-wide interfaith work, helping build an association of nearly forty congregations.

In September 2021, Brother Gawain began serving as Priest-in-Charge at Holy Trinity, Inwood, a church redevelopment initiative in upper Manhattan. The parish is building the first new church in the Diocese of New York in thirty years.

He graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in philosophy and government, received his M.Div. from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and completed his Anglican Studies Certificate at General Theological Seminary. He holds a Doctorate in Congregational Development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (2011).

Brother Gawain has served on the boards of Meals on Wheels, the Housing Action Council, and the National Clergy Advisory Board of Planned Parenthood. In 2011, he co-founded Westchester United, an IAF affiliate, with three rabbis and a Catholic priest. He currently serves as a leader of Manhattan Together, recently completed his second term as a Trustee of the Diocese of New York, and has concluded his first term on the Church Pension Fund Board. He has taught Philosophical Ethics at Manhattanville College and Fordham University, and has pursued continuing formation in organizational development through the Tavistock Institute, the Center for Emotional Intelligence and Human Relations, and CDI.

His book The Body of Christ in a Market Economy brings economic thinking into conversation with the theological anthropology of the church, examining how rivalry and debt shape the use of money and how church governance can influence economic decision-making. He is currently completing a companion workbook to help congregations reflect on their own economic choices.

Brother Gawain is a credentialed sommelier, a longtime salsero, and a weightlifter. He roots for the Buffalo Bills, Sabres, Tottenham Hotspur, and the Dutch national football team — loyalties that have taught him much about hope, patience, and the redemptive possibilities of a fresh season.

 

David Andrews, OA

 

David Andrews retired from active parish ministry at the end of 2021 and officially retired on the occasion of his 65th birhthday(2022).  Since retirement Fr. Andrews and his wife, the Rev. Emily Gibson have two trips to Spain; the first in 2022 when they walked the Camino for a week and again last summer when they walked in the steps of Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.  He continues to stay active in teaching on the parish level.  This past year he has led a year long study on the Teresa and John focused on the meaning of the Dark Night of the Soul.  He also has an active spiritual direction practice which he enjoys a great deal and he has taken on the role of assisting with the Order of the Ascension’s associate program.  

 

 

LIZ SCHELLINGERHOUDT, OA

 

I'm the rector at St. Clare’s Episcopal Church in the beautiful north Georgia mountains. I have served at large urban parishes and small rural parishes. I am thoroughly enjoying the joy and challenge of a small, rural parish during a particularly challenging time in our nation’s history. The political divide in our country – one that is also found in most small, diverse congregations – has caused me to look inward at my own beliefs about what it means to be a priest, how to preach the Good News, and to learn to listen deeply to differing points of view. The Church is the one place that may be able to show the world around us how to live together amidst deep differences, practicing that what binds us together is the Body and Blood of Christ, not our agreement or political allegiances.

My husband Kees and I have been married for 35 years and we have two grown children. 

 

 

Richard Proctor, OA

Brother Richard was installed as the Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, SC on May 21, 2026. Prior to that, he served as the Rector of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Santa Rosa Beach, FL and the Associate Rector at St. Mark’s, Jacksonville, and St. John’s Western Run Parish outside of Baltimore, MD. He is married to the Rev’d Emily Rose Proctor, who is a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). They have two children – Julian Thomas and Madeleine Rose.

Richard was born and raised in Tallahassee, FL and received his formal education at the University of the South (Sewanee), Florida State University, Columbia Theological Seminary (MDiv), and the General Theological Seminary (STM). He is currently in the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program at Nashotah House Theological Seminary.

In 2022, after a four-year novitiate process, Richard took his lifelong vows with the Order of the Ascnesion. Richard is passionate about how the Rule of Benedict can be applied to parish and family life.

Prior to becoming an Episcopal priest, Richard was a professional musician (drummer and songwriter), touring the United States and Europe with the band Tishamingo. He loves collecting records, inshore and freshwater fishing, and Florida State football. Richard’s Substack blog is Rhythm & Grace/@frproconthedrums.

 

 

 

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Poulson Reed, OA

Ordained a deacon in June of 2002, Brother Poulson served at Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, Colorado (where he was ordained a priest in January of 2003) for more than seven years as Curate, Canon, and eventually as Sub-Dean. Poulson began serving as Rector of All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Day School in Phoenix, Arizona in August of 2009. As Rector, he was the spiritual leader of both a large church and a day school of over 500 students in pre-K through 8^th grade.

On December 14^th, 2019, Poulson was elected the sixth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma. He was consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor on May 30^th, 2020 at a small ceremony in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was seated as the Bishop Diocesan on August 8^th, 2020 (the Feast of Saint Dominic). As Bishop of Oklahoma, he oversees a diocese that includes 68 congregations, 5 Episcopal Schools, 2 college chaplaincies, 2 senior care centers, and a camp and conference center. Brother Poulson first took the Promise of stability, obedience and conversion of life during the pandemic, on June 17 at a Zoom gathering of the Order. He made his life profession on April 30, 2024.

Poulson is an avid, life-long learner. In addition to his formal degrees, he has studied congregational and organization development over many years.

 

Tom Early, OA

I grew up on the Iowa side of the Missouri River valley. My heart and vocation are deeply connected to rural and agrarian communities. I spent two years after college with Green Iowa AmeriCorps, weatherizing low-income housing and facilitating energy education for youth and adults. I chose to attend Sewanee for seminary because it felt like the perfect combination of the rural setting I felt called to serve and the Anglican formation hub I craved. My first call was to a lovely lake town, far away from anything resembling a city. I currently serve as rector of St. John’s by the Campus in Ames, IA. Here I feel connected to the young people who often come from rural and remote places and the discourse around sustainable agriculture and shrinking communities.

As institutions deteriorate, I have found myself increasingly drawn to the Benedictine Promise. I delight when inviting stability, obedience, and conversion of life to those in my parish but also to any who are feeling wearied by the increasing changes and chances of our current times.

My wife Sara and I are often coaxed outside by our Golden Retriever, Alleluia “Allie” Early. Together we love walking in our local state parks and trying not to kill the lovely garden we inherited in our backyard. 

 

Jennifer L. Lazzuri, OA

Sister Jennifer has served as the Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in rural Louisa Virginia since September of 2020.  Prior to her time at St. James, she worked for Bon Secours Mercy Health hospital system in Richmond, Virginia for 10 years, where she served as Lead Chaplain for Professional Development and Advancement — writing and developing a professional educational advancement program for chaplains in the system. Recognizing there was no pathway for further advancement that would lead to direct additional compensation, she developed a training program recognized by the system. She remains on the Advisory Board for St. Mary’s Clinical Pastoral Education program.  

Prior to her time there, she served as Director of Missions for the Hermon Baptist Association in rural Virginia, from 1999-2009. (The only female Director of Missions in the country). Prior to her ordination to the priesthood, she was an ordained Southern Baptist minister.  

Jennifer came later in life to the Episcopal Church, having studied at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois (M.A. in Church history) and obtaining her Doctorate at Baptist Theological Seminary, Richmond Virginia, in Pastoral Care. Anglican studies were done at Virginia Theological Seminary.  

Jennifer has four children -Allie, Anna, Abbey, & Alex; her children are a passion of hers, but now that they are mostly grown; she has discovered a passion for sailing— has purchased her own boat, and may be found exploring the Chesapeake Bay. She fantasizes about retiring as a crabber. 

Bowen Family Systems theory has informed her life and ministry; having participated in Leadership in Ministry (Columbia Theological Seminary) a Bowen based leadership formation program, from 2007-2019.  She strongly believes that self-differentiation is the key to the kingdom.  

She is chair for the Board of Examining Chaplains for the Diocese of Virginia and also serves on the Commission of Ministry.  

Other areas of continuing education and development include parish development, and work in conflict management with parishes. 

She leads a Grief Support Group at her church and in the community, believing in the healing presence of community.  The Rule of Benedict is used as part of the Caring Community model of pastoral care at her parish. 

 

Departed

Jeremy Bond, OA 

Born July 9, 1938, I grew up near the Village of Yorktown Heights, New York, about forty miles north of NYC and about ten miles east of the Hudson River. I enjoyed life in our rural setting three miles south of the village. I had two brothers, James, thirteen months older than me and Brian, four years younger. I spent twelve years (no kindergarten) in thee same school building and graduated from high school in 1955 at age sixteen. The only difficult part of growing up came when our mother died at age forty-four from cancer in March 1950. I had to learn to cook and clean house as a pre-teen.

My father married my step-mother in 1952 and she took over some of my chores. In high school I participated in several sports and especially enjoyed track which I did my last two years. The fall of 1955 I began studies at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. I majored in English and about half way through chose to go on to seminary. I graduated from Kenyon June of 1960 and attended the General Theological Seminary in New York City. I finished GTS in June of 1962 at age 23, got ordained deacon June 9th of that year and began ministry at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine July 1st. 

The fall of 1960, at a classmates birthday party, I met Kathy Bartlett, a student at Bellevue School of Nursing across town from us. We started dating and married September 29th 1962. I then got ordained a priest December 22nd 1962. Then in the spring of 1964, with my time at St. John's due to end I accepted an offer to  serve at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Harrisburg, PA. at St. Stephen's, basically a parish church, I learned parish ministry. I stayed there as Assistant Minister until March of 1968 when I took on the position of Rector of St. Paul's, Harrisburg; a blue collar racially mixed congregation. 

I have three children: Angela, Catharine and Michael. After eleven years at St. Paul's and going through fire in 1970, and flood in 1972, I served as Rector of St. Matthew's parish from 79 to 2003. There we chose our own house to live in and bought a pleasant 1950's home on the hill.  In 1989, I also took on the small congregation of  St. Mark's, two miles away in Northumberland. From then on, each Sunday morning at celebrated Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10;30 in Sunbury and 9:00 across the river in Northumberland. I retired August 1st. 2003 and Kathy and I moved west to our current home in Grover Beach, California in June 2004. I enjoy retirement life here.

I attended a clergy workshop in New Jersey in 1992. Robert Gallagher led the event and from him I got information on the Order of the Ascension. I soon began the process of membership and finished the entry stages in 1995 to become a regular member. Now that I soon turn 81 I'm slowing down but continue my disciplines of prayer and praise and hope to see one and all of the Order each year, wherever we meet.

Brother Jeremy died on April 8, 2022. A page on Jeremy is HERE