Mother Cass received her M.DIV from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest and was ordained to the Priesthood in the Diocese of Colorado on Dec. 17, 2005. She began her ordained ministry as a Deacon and then as an Assisting Priest at St. Matthew’s in Parker where she served for several years. Her countless opportunities, many of them long-term, serving as a Supply Priest throughout the Diocese have given her an appreciation for the rich diversity among Episcopal Churches and worshippers. Cass was Priest-in-Charge at All Saints in Northwest Denver for 1 ½ years, pastoring the small congregation through the painfully difficult decision to close the parish.
Mother Cass boasts a long association with Ascension, having been brought up as a member of the choirs at the Church of the Ascension in Pueblo from early childhood through several years of college. She and her husband were later members there when Fr. Tom Long served as the Curate. For 25 years they were very active members of St Martin-in-the Fields, Aurora, involved in a wide variety of lay ministries. Cass attributes this gift of experiencing so many different ways of serving God as foundational to her call to ordained ministry. She says, “Many people mistake the myriad program choices of large churches as opportunities for ministry, while in my experience it is the smaller, often struggling, church which provides a broader range of actual hands-on ministry for those desiring to serve within the Church.”
Cass’ husband Larry is a Test Engineer in the Global Manufacturing division of EchoStar; his job includes frequent trips to places such as China, Mexico and India. If he is not in church, you can assume he is probably working abroad. The Strotheides have two adult children. Andrew and his wife Dana live in Lafayette; Andrew is employed by Google in Boulder as a Software Engineer and Dana is the Literacy Coordinator for Niwot HS. Lara is in the doctoral program for Audiology at UNC & her husband Jon Swankie is finishing his undergrad degree at CU after completing several deployments as a medic with the National Guard.
Mother Cass, like Father Tom, is a bi-vocational priest (meaning, she is making a living in non-parish work), working as a Microbiologist at The Children’s Hospital. Her office hours and availability to members of the congregation will be posted once the details are finalized. Cass is excited to be in association with the staff of Ascension and looks forward to exploring a variety of ways to be of service to the people who worship here. |
