Musing on Mission

Fr. Gabriel Rochelle has served in ministry, across four decades, as parish pastor, university chaplain, and seminary professor.  He holds advanced degrees (Th.M. in biblical theology, Ph.D. in theology and literature) is a generalist who relates to all sorts of people.  Fr. Gabriel supports his intellectual life by membership in the North American Academy of Liturgy and the Orthodox Theological Society of America.  He was on the research team for the Orthodox Study Bible (Old Testament).  He sees himself mainly as a pastor, preacher, teacher, and spiritual guide.  Fr. Gabriel serves in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA.  Father Gabriel became Orthodox after many years in Lutheran ministry.  He is currently teaching religious studies at New Mexico State University.  His avocations include baking, cycling, and birding. 

Pani-matka Susan Steinhaus shares in ministry with Father in many vital ways.  Her enthusiasm and people-centeredness are genuine and obvious to all who know her.  She is also a convert to Orthodoxy, and served as a Lutheran lay campus minister for eight years.  She is a Western native who likes to read, knit, drink coffee, and enjoys cowboy music.

They moved across country, from eastern Pennslvania to southern New Mexico, in September 2007 to begin a mission for the Ukrainian Church.  The area to which they moved, the Mesilla Valley, has about 100,000 people with a university of 16,500, and no Orthodox church.  This is the story of the mission as they experience its growth.