By Staff

Apr. 21, 2021: The Reverend Canon Susan Harriss is Interim Priest at Christ Church Bronxville, taking over from Reverend Michael Bird, who, after 16 years, moved on to the position of Vicar at Trinity Church Wall Street.  

Canon Susan Harriss has always had, as she says, "a religious drift" Her parents were officers, which is equivalent to clergy, in the Salvation Army. "It's not well known in the United States that the Salvation Army is an evangelical movement," she says. Growing up, her family moved with the Church to different parts of the Carolinas and West Virginia.  

Susan knew at a young age that she wanted to be in the ministry. After graduating from Denison University in 1973, she explored the Catholic Church and Protestant Services. She then decided to go to the Union Theological Seminary, which is affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. While at the Seminary, Susan met her future husband, Kenneth Ruge, who years later became minister of the Reformed Church Bronxville. The couple now has three grown children living in LA and Minneapolis.

Canon Susan Harriss, Dr. Kenneth Ruge and their children

Upon graduation from Seminary in 1977, Susan fell in love with the Episcopal Church, which had just started ordaining women the year before. Susan entered the ordaining process and was ordained in 1980 as part of the second class or ordained women in the Episcopal Church.  

At that time, she joined St. Michael's Church on the upper west side of Manhattan. Her career subsequently took her to St. James on Madison Avenue, chaplain to the Cathedral School in New York, and Canon Pastor at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. "Canon" is a title sometimes given to senior members of the staff at a cathedral. In 1991, she also published a book of children's sermons, Jamie's Way: Stories for Worship and Family  Devotion. 

She then became Rector of Christ Church in Rye for 16 years.  She retired in 2016 and has since greatly enjoyed three of her favorite avocations - - yoga, poetry and long walks with her husband. In fact, she became a trained yoga instructor.

Susan and Ken celebrating their 43rd Wedding Anniversary

Upon Father Michael Bird's departure early this year, Canon Susan Harriss was asked to come on as Interim Priest at Christ Church Bronxville while the Church conducts its search.  The search process is currently in the early stages. 

"We are so fortunate to have been able to attract Reverend Harriss to Christ Church Bronxville," says Owen Thomas, Warden at the Church, "She is a beloved former rector at Christ Church Rye and a wonderful person."

Photo at top courtesy Christ Church Bronxville.  Other photos courtesy Canon Susan Harriss