Priest-In-Charge

The Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Somerset, Massachusetts, has completed the search process to call our next Rector! Please read the announcement below!

June 13, 2021

A Letter From The Wardens

“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.”
–1 Chronicles 16:34

It is with thanks to the Lord that we bring you the good news: our time of searching has ended!

On behalf of the Search Committee and the Vestry, we are thrilled to announce that the Rev. Dr. Tara K. Soughers has accepted our call and the Bishop’s appointment to become the Priest-In-Charge at Church of Our Saviour!

This is an unusual but exciting announcement! Introductions are hardly necessary, but there are some facts that you may not know about Rev. Tara. She has 30 years of experience as an Interim, Priest Associate, Bridge Priest, and Rector. The Education for Ministry (EfM) program is one of her passions and she has been involved as a mentor, a Diocesan Coordinator, and as a Trainer. Tara graduated from Boston University with a PhD in Practical Theology with a Concentration in Spirituality. She has published four books as well as dozens of articles and reviews! Her newest book, “Beyond a Binary God” will be one of the Interlude Texts in the upcoming EfM Season, alongside Howard Thurman, Bishop Steven Charleston, and Stephanie Spellers.

The past three years have been a mutually beneficial time for both the church and Rev. Tara and we are pleased and excited that this relationship will continue. Thanks to the generous stewardship of this parish, Tara will continue to be employed at ¾ time! Over the next year, the parish and Tara will engage in joint visioning work to discern what our future may look like. After this work, both Rev. Tara and the Vestry will begin discernment about the alignment of skills and goals. At the end of the second year, if all is in alignment, and upon mutual agreement, Rev. Tara would be called as our Rector.

As noted, this is an unusual event. The rules of the church do state that an Interim, such as Tara was, cannot become a Rector. Due to the pandemic and the fact that our search was about to become three years old, the bishop’s office decided to explore the possibility of making an exception to the current rules. The search committee evaluated this option and made its recommendation to the vestry that Tara was a good fit and the vestry then voted to accept the Bishop’s appointment of Tara to be our Priest-in-Charge for the next two years.

We are excited about what our future may hold and look forward to celebrating in the next few months!

Yours in Christ,

George Paiva – Sr. Warden

Russel Burke – Jr. Warden