Listening Hearts Board of Trustees

The Listening Hearts Ministries Board of Trustees is responsible for establishing the policies of the organization and overseeing the activities of the program office. The board meets semi-annually to evaluate the overall operations of the organization and seek consensus on issues that may impact on the future direction of the ministry. Four members of the board make up the executive committee. This group meets regularly with members of the program office to review the ongoing operations of the organization.

The Rev. Cynthia Bell

Cynthia joined the Board of Trustees in 2010. She is responsible for correspondence with all those whose contributions make Listening Hearts Ministries such a vital institution.  An Episcopal priest, she participated in a Listening Hearts program shortly after her ordination in 1995 and has been a devoted supporter of the ministry ever since. Cynthia has served churches in North Salem, NY and Marion, Massachusetts. Since retirement from parish duties in 2007, she has worked as a hospice chaplain in the South Coast section of Massachusetts on Buzzards Bay. 

Cynthia is an alumna of Endicott College, the College of New Rochelle, and General Theological Seminary, from which she earned her Master of Spiritual Direction and her Master of Divinity. Cynthia is originally from Douglas Manor on Little Neck Bay on Long Island. She and her husband settled in Larchmont, N.Y. on Long Island Sound where their two boys enjoyed many hours racing and cruising across the Sound to Shelter Island and as far 'downeast'  as Maine.  She plays tennis year-round, enjoys reading and teaching short courses, has traveled in Europe, the Galapagos, Israel, and Greece, sings with the Sippican Choral Society, and enjoys trips to Boston for its fine museums and symphony performances.      

Patricia Brown, Treasurer

Patricia Brown joined the Board of Trustees as treasurer in 2006. In that capacity, she serves on both the executive committee and the administrative committee. Prior to serving as a trustee, her connection with Listening Hearts Ministries was through her husband, Joseph P. Gill, who was a founding member of the board, its first treasurer, and a co-author of Listening
Hearts: Discerning Call in Community.

Patty graduated from the University of Richmond, Phi Beta Kappa, and from the University of Baltimore School of Law. She is president of Johns Hopkins Health Care LLC, a managed care organization owned by the Johns Hopkins Health System and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She also serves as senior counsel for the Johns Hopkins Health System. Preceding her association with Hopkins, she served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Maryland.

A Roman Catholic, Patty is a member of St. Ignatius Church in Baltimore. She and Joe live in Severna Park and have an in-town getaway in downtown Baltimore across from Camden Yards, making it easy for Patty to indulge her passion for both baseball and football.

Barbara Cates, Secretary

Barbara Cates joined the board as secretary in 2010. She was part of the original team of researchers behind Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, and trained as a discerner in 1997. Barbara spent seven months at the Taizé Community in France after graduating from Princeton University in 1980. She joined Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore upon her return and has been an active member ever since. In 1989 she joined the U.S. Foreign Service as an economics officer, and has been posted to Moscow, USSR; Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Tashkent, Uzbekistan; and Yekaterinburg, Russia. Barbara recently completed a three-year assignment at the State Department as Deputy Director of the Office of International Religious Freedom. Currently she is assigned to the Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, coordinating environmental policy with the Middle East and South and Central Asia.

Barbara has twice served on her church vestry, leads the singing at Memorial’s weekly Taizé prayer service, and maintains an ecumenical connection with Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church, where she is a deacon and sings in the choir. She completed Education for Ministry (EfM) in the 1990s and has recently repeated the second and third years of the program, driven by a desire to go more deeply into the New Testament.

Anne Clewell

Alice Dorrance, Vice President

Alice Dorrance became a trustee in 2002. As vice president, she serves on the executive committee, with primary responsibility for both the newsletter Explorations and the semi-annual fund appeal. Her association with Listening Hearts began when she attended a “Grounded in God” vestry retreat for Immanuel Church of Glencoe, Maryland, where she
was senior warden. The impact of that program on her personally and on the work of the vestry led her to register for the intensive Training Week for Trainers. Since that time, she has organized and continues to facilitate a Listening Hearts group that meets regularly at the Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where she currently lives.

A graduate of Harcum College in Pennsylvania with a degree in Early Childhood Education, Alice taught at The Friends School in Haverford until moving on to devote her time to raising a family. Alice’s husband, Chris, is headmaster of the Spartanburg Day School. They have two grown children. Along with her church-related activities, Alice’s interests include Bible study, gardening, the natural world, hiking in protected lands, tennis, and yoga. Her generous financial support of the organization has allowed Listening Hearts to enhance its professional staff.

Suzanne Farnham, Founder

Suzanne Farnham is the founding trustee of Listening Hearts Ministries, and served as the executive director for many years. As a member of the Board of Trustees, she serves on both the executive and administrative committees. Suzanne developed the “Listening Hearts,” “Grounded in God,” and “Opening the Ear of Your Heart” training programs and continues to design training formats, retreats and workshops based on these programs. She is a popular and sought-after inspirational leader, and continues to play an active role in leading programs across the country.

Suzanne is co-author of Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community and Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations, as well as The Manual for Discussion Leaders. She co-edited the Listening Hearts SONGBOOK and is the author of Listening Hearts Retreat Designs and Meditation Exercises. Most recently, she is co-author with the Rev. Timothy Grayson of Keeping in Tune with God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Clergy.

Suzanne was born in Georgia but grew up in New York State. She is a graduate of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Suzanne’s husband of forty-seven years, the Rev. Lyman (Barney) Farnham, died in 2007. It was while Barney was the rector of Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore that Suzanne began a parish-based initiative that led to the creation of the book, Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, which ultimately led to the formation of Listening Hearts Ministries. She has four grown children and ten grandchildren.

The Rev. Timothy H. Grayson

Tim was first introduced to Listening Hearts through reading Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, and became involved in the organization after meeting Suzanne Farnham at St. James’ Episcopal in West Baltimore, where he served as assistant to the rector. He became a trustee in 2008, completed the Training for the Trainers week in 2009, and now serves on the executive committee, with responsibility for marketing. He is the co-author, with Suzanne Farnham, of Keeping in Tune With God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Clergy.

Born and raised in New Zealand, Tim has a Masters degree in English Language and English Literature from Victoria University in Wellington. He worked as a journalist in New Zealand before beginning his career in medical publishing in London in 1975, and seven years later transferred to his company’s head office in Baltimore. In 2003, Tim answered the call to ordained ministry and returned to New Zealand to study at the College of St. John the Evangelist in Auckland. He returned to Baltimore in 2005 to marry Kathy, whom he had met just one month prior to his departure for New Zealand. He completed his M.Div at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, VA in 2007 and now serves as rector of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Northeast Baltimore.

Tim is convener of the Board of Directors of the Maryland Episcopal Clergy Association (MECA) and is a member of the Order of Urban Missioners.

Tim's work with Listening Hearts Ministries introduced him to the intimate experience of collaborating with others using spiritual consensus. You can listen below as Tim reflects on the meaning of spiritual consensus at a recent gathering of Listening Hearts trustees.

R. Taylor McLean, President

President of Listening Hearts since its founding, Taylor serves on both the executive committee and the administrative committee, with responsibility for major donor cultivation. He was actively engaged from the beginning, doing the research on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He is co-author of Listening Hearts: Discerning Call in Community, The Listening Hearts Manual for Discussion Leaders, and Grounded in God: Listening Hearts Discernment for Group Deliberations.

Taylor attended Johns Hopkins University, received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and holds a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review.  He served as an assistant United States attorney prior to becoming a partner of the law firm Royston, Mueller, McLean and Reid in Towson, Maryland.

Formerly a widower with three children, seven grandchildren and a great granddaughter, Taylor married Patricia Lyman McLean in April 2008. He has been an active member of The Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore for most of his adult life.  An enthusiastic bird watcher and a committed environmentalist, he enjoys camping and playing tennis.

The Rev. Bruce McPherson

Bruce McPherson has been a trustee of Listening Hearts Ministries twice; once from 1995 – 2002 and again from 2008 until the present. Bruce was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church in 1991 and has served a number of parishes in the Dioceses of Maryland, Washington and Virginia as interim rector. Prior to taking up active ordained ministry, he was Executive Vice President of Bank of America.

Bruce is married to the Rev. Phebe McPherson and lives in Annapolis. They have three children and four grandchildren

Lee Owen

Lee Owen came onto the board in 1999 and served as treasurer through 2006. He was part of the very first test-group trained in Listening Hearts discernment in 1989, was then part of the Memorial Church Discernment Ministry Team, and has served in numerous discernment groups over the years.

An alumnus of Williams College, Lee earned an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia. An investment manager, he is co-President of Alex Brown Investment Management. Lee has a special interest in opening up opportunities for minorities to attend fine schools. To this end, he serves on the board of the Severn School, chairing the committee to raise scholarship funds. He is also a trustee and co-chair of the Endowment Campaign for the Baltimore Educational Scholarship Trust (B.E.S.T.), an organization that heads up an effort of 22 independent schools to recruit minority students, help them through the application process, and provide scholarship aid.

Lee is married and has four children. He and his wife Jenny reside on Gibson Island near Annapolis. When not working, Lee enjoys golf, fishing, and boating.

Frances Sullinger

Frances Sullinger became a trustee in 2002. She is a member of the administrative committee and the executive committee, where her area is client development. Frances was trained in dicernment in 1990 as part of a field test group at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna, Virginia, where she is still a member. She now serves her church community as coordinator for its Listening Hearts discernment team and as co-mentor for the adult confirmation classes.She collaborated with Suzanne Farnham in developing the Title III Training Program for Episcopal Commissions on Ministry. As a Senior Associate for Listening Hearts Ministries, she trains trainers and diocesan facilitators and leads retreats for congregations and small groups.

Frances earned BS and MS degrees in theatre, speech and English at Texas A & M, and completed a year of doctoral work in structural linguistics at Denver University. She taught at Concord College in West Virginia, East Texas State University, the University of Denver and in the overseas division of the University of Maryland.  Later, she joined the U.S. Department of State as a commissioned Foreign Service Officer. Following her retirement, she continued facilitating professional development seminars for the Foreign Service.

Frances lives in Centreville, Virginia, and maintains a home on the Greek island of Hydra. She is a widow with a daughter and two grandchildren who live nearby. Click on the audio player below to hear her reflecting on how Listening Hearts has helped her become more sensitive to the presence of the Holy Spirit.