We welcome  our  new clergy team, the Rev. Dr. Peter Pearson and the Rev. Dr. Susan Richardson.

 Susan and Peter, as most parishioners know them, filled in with other clergy after the departure of the church’s longtime rector, the Rev. Michael Ruk.

Both priests are part-time for our landmark Episcopal parish, complementing their work at St. Philip’s with other aspects of their vocations. These include teaching iconography and leading pilgrimages in the case of Pearson, and lecturing at Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative for Richardson.

“You might say we’re building the plane while we’re flying it,” Pearson said of his shared ministry with Richardson. “It’s an experiment, to be sure, but doable with the generosity, creativity and joyfulness of St. Philip’s community.”

Pearson should know. He was rector of St. Philip’s from 2005 to 2012 during another period of intense change. With an initial charge from the diocese in 2005 to help the tiny church “die a graceful death,” he presided over a period of robust growth instead.

In religious life since 1975, he has been a Catholic priest, a Benedictine monk, an Episcopal priest, a leader in the Episcopal Franciscan community, and has led large and small, wealthy and poor parishes, as well as the 17-parish deanery of Bucks. All of these experiences, he says, will help him serve at a time of challenge — not just for St. Philip’s and the institutional church but the country as a whole.

“People who are scared can’t hear. Our job, collectively, is to provide a vision to take the place of the fear that predominates now,” he added.

Richardson comes to St. Philip’s with a special interest in building and sustaining community — an urgent priority, she believes, at a time when loneliness is epidemic. “St. Philip’s is a great ‘third space’ for connecting with others, providing an intimate and simple environment for rest, reorientation and reset,” she said.

In addition to celebrating Eucharist on a rotational basis with Peter, she has led special days of guided meditation and prayer: in celebration of Mary Magdelene; in support of unity on election night; and in a half-day retreat aimed at supporting church leaders (which is to say everyone in a church of St. Philip’s size).

Richardson brings an interfaith appreciation into her parish work that aligns with St. Philip’s ethos of radical welcome. Formerly both associate and then interim rector at Christ Church Philadephia, she has been an adjunct professor in World Religions at the College of New Jersey since 2012. She would love to gather a group of people from the New Hope-Lambertville community who share what she calls “a yearning for wholeness and the ‘real stuff’ — to use a serious theological term — in this sacramental journey we call life.”

She is looking forward to a fruitful partnership with Pearson.

“Our feeling is, ‘Let’s see where this takes us,’” Pearson said of their collaboration. “There’s freedom and fun in that. And, let’s never forget, fun is holy.”

The Rev. Dr. Susan Richardson is Associate Priest in Residence at St Philip’s New Hope, where she loves the simplicity and “thin space” of the cozy historic schoolhouse and the expansive reach of the community’s justice work, going far beyond the beautiful walls. That combination captures the inner growth and outer action that she believes are each equally what God invites us to. Susan believes in the special third-space that a progressive faith community in the Episcopal tradition like St Philip’s offers, for friendships that can see us through all kinds of life phases but also – unlike more casual social settings – that call us to ponder together the bigger mysteries of life. She especially likes looking at how our spiritual and faith lives are integrated with our work lives, whether professional or volunteer, and she’s a lecturer/manager at the Faith & Work Initiative at Princeton University (faithandwork.princeton.edu). Susan is a consultant for the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania for leaders, both lay and ordained, in transition or conflict. She’s also adjunct faculty at the College of New Jersey in World Religions. Ordained priest in 2006 at historic Christ Church Philadelphia, kneeling on the grave of William White, she served there until late 2010 as associate rector, served briefly as an interim rector in New Jersey, then returned to Christ Church as associate rector in 2014. In 2022, she became the interim rector there, serving in that capacity until September 2023. She’s worked with St Philip’s since winter 2024 and is grateful to now be a regular part of its staff, partnering with the Rev. Peter Pearson. Susan loves gardening (inadequately but happily), baking (especially pound cake), silly rom-coms that are utterly indefensible, and time with her family. And cats. Always cats.

Watch this space for more information about The Rev. Peter Pearson!