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Staff and Vestry

Rector Susan C. Burns

Our Rector, The Reverend Susan C. Burns, answered The Church of the Redeemer's call to be its seventh rector in 1994. Of her ministry at Redeemer, Ms. Burns states, "My aim has been to preach the Gospel in word and action, week by week, as best I understand it at this time, in this place. My hope is that together we will bring the Gospel to life, in our worship, fellowship, learning, service, and daily life. I seek to maintain a balance between the healing and contemplative practices of the Church, and ministry with those who are marginalized. I value interfaith and ecumenical conversation and relationships. I am committed to our learning to be disciples of Jesus Christ, through worship, study, and engagement with the world, especially in outreach to those who differ from ourselves in significant ways."

Ms. Burns came to Redeemer from The Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore, Maryland, where she served as Associate to the Rector from 1989-1994. She was ordained in the Diocese of New York, having received her M. Div. from The General Theological Seminary, in 1989. A graduate of Cornell University and The Cornell Law School, she practiced law in New York City for ten years before being called to ordained ministry.

Ms. Burns is active in diocesan youth events, and parish and diocesan outreach. She participates in an ecumenical clergy theological study group, serves on the diocesan Committee on Resolutions, is the secretary of the Evangelical Education Society, and a diocesan representative of the American Friends of the Diocese of Jerusalem. She received a Lilly Foundation grant to fund her sabbatical in 2003. She has also served the Diocese of Washington as co-chair of the Task Force on Budget and Reserves, and as a member of the Ecclesiastical Trial Court, the Commission on Church Architecture, and the Committee on the Constitution, Canons and Other Business.

She is married to Allen Burns, with whom she has four children: two daughters, living in New Mexico and Baltimore, Maryland; and two sons, one in California, and one at University in British Columbia, Canada. She has a great love of art and music, and has completed the Marine Corps Marathon, in 2005 and 2006.