On the Emmaus Road: A Guide for Transitions in Ordained Leadership

The Rev. Dr. Mary Brennan Thorpe served as an intentional interim rector as well as a settled rector before becoming Director of Transition Ministry and then Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of Virginia. She has facilitated over a hundred transitions at this point in all sorts of congregations and has consulted on others. Her doctoral research informed her work in that ministry and in this book. She has followed her own circuitous Emmaus Road to this work, having had vibrant careers in technology design and management and in public policy and advocacy before ordination. She is a graduate of Jersey City State College (BA in Music), of the Hartt College of Music of the University of Hartford (MMusEd), Virginia Theological Seminary (MDiv with honors), and Columbia Presbyterian Seminary (DMin). She also holds a certificate in the Management of High-Technology Companies through Stanford University and the American Electronics Association. She is an iconographer – one of her icons is on the front of this book – and musician, a wife, a mother of five and grandmother of five.

“Navigating church transitions can be difficult. Based upon her years of experience as a transitions officer and Canon to the Ordinary, Mary Brennan Thorpe has provided an excellent road map for the various constituencies in the process.”
— Phoebe A. Roaf, Bishop, Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee

“Your congregation’s transition to its next priest can feel daunting, especially in these times of challenge and change. Mary Brennan Thorpe will wisely guide your journey with abundant research, stories, and tools for vestries and discernment committees alike. Lace up your walking shoes and follow her lead in utter trust that God will work powerfully through it all.”
— Susan E. Goff, Ecclesiastical Authority, Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

“What a gift to have this all in one volume: the clergy transition process as it really works today, from start to finish, step by step, with insights for vestries and search committees whatever the parish’s size and resources. As a bonus, the book includes the experience, wisdom, and humor of one of the Church’s great transitions officers, Mary Brennan Thorpe.”— Judy Stark, clergy transitions consultant

“On the Emmaus Road offers excellent practical and spiritual guidance and resources for transitions. I commend it to all congregations, clergy, and dioceses as they embark on collaborative journeys of discernment.”— Meghan F. Froehlich, director, Office for Transition Ministry, The Episcopal Church