Washington Church About To Celebrate Installation Of Its First Female Rector

WASHINGTON GREEN — On Saturday, October 13, at 10:30 am, the Right Reverend Ian T. Douglas, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, will preside at the institution of the Reverend Susan J. McCone as rector of St John’s Episcopal Church in Washington.

Mother McCone is the first woman called to be rector of St John’s, which was founded more than 250 years ago. St John’s has been served by a full-time rector since 1885. Mother McCone will be the 13th rector to serve St John’s Church, which began life as a worshipping community in 1754 in a little wood frame church originally located in Davies Hollow.

Mother McCone’s path to the priesthood was far from typical. A 1971 magna cum laude graduate of Smith College, Mother McCone majored in government and wrote her honors thesis on “Religious Roots of James Madison’s Political Thought.” She earned a JD degree from Columbia University School of Law in 1974, and practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell as a securities litigator until she left in 1980 to form her own business, Jonal and Co., a fashion design and retail business in New York City. She closed the business in 1994 to attend seminary and seek holy orders.

Mother McCone went on to earn an MDiv degree from Yale Divinity School in 1999 where her studies were concentrated in theology and ethics, with a special focus on church-state relations. She received an Anglican Certificate from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale in 2000.

While at Yale, Mother McCone served as the first intern assistant to the chaplain of the US House of Representatives, where she researched and wrote the first history of the Congressional Chaplaincy, established in 1789.

Mother McCone was ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Connecticut in 2003. She has served a number of Connecticut parishes, including Christ Church, New Haven; St John’s, Bristol; and Christ Church, Watertown. Her association with St John’s, Washington, began in the spring of 2003 when she served the parish as an assisting priest.

Looking to the future, Mother McCone hopes to lead her flock at St John’s in deepening its spiritual life and expanding its active service to the wider community.  Plans for a capital campaign to fund the much-needed restoration of the historic buildings that make up the campus of St John’s Church are also underway.

Wardens Helen Gray and Russ Elgin and the vestry of St John’s Church extend an open invitation to the local community to participate in this significant event in the life of the parish. A reception will follow, also open to all.

For more information, contact the Parish Office at 860-868-2527 or stjohnschurch@snet.net, or visit the church’s website at www.stjohnswashington.org.