By Melanie P. Moore
Like a hike with unexpected turns, after 30 years in law enforcement, Suzanne Hollifield became a priest. She didn’t swap one vocation for the other, however. She’s a bi-vocational priest, continuing her work as an investigator at the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office and serving as priest at All Saints Episcopal Church in Crockett, Texas.
“For me, the Iona program was exactly where I was called,” she said. “I equate it to one of the best formation experiences that I could have ever had. I compare it to Houston Police Academy, and I say that in the most glorifying way. The Houston Police Department came to me when I was just out of college, 22 years old. The power we were entrusted with was overwhelming at first. They were very careful about training us for service.
“At Iona, I felt instantly that the formation was like the police academy. The Revs. Andrew Benko and Francene Young—the way that they formed me was so encouraging, so on point, so real. Just like the police academy. I was scared to be a cop in the big city; those instructors knew it and didn’t make fun of it. They nurtured it so that when I got done, I would be ready. Same with Iona. They got me ready and cared about me so that I felt confident enough to walk into the front doors of All Saints in Crockett and start ordained ministry.”
How does one go from Police to Priest? And how did she get to the Houston Police Department from Bedford, Texas, in the first place?
When she was in first grade, Suzanne Hollifield decided she wanted to be a police officer. Her mom had chosen to go back to work and was in the application process to become a police officer. Recounting her progress to the family became part of the dinner conversation.
“Meals were very important to our family, having breakfast and dinner together,” Hollifield said. “It was a much different time in law enforcement. One night, my family was sitting around the dinner table, and she had a different vibe. She was disqualified because she failed the physical fitness test. I just knew in my heart she would be a qualified police officer–her nosiness, wit, and ability to figure things out. I knew as a first grader that the department missed out on someone who would be great to serve.
“From that point, I wanted to be a police officer. I asked many questions. I knew what was required and I lived into that model so I would have the best opportunity.”
Physical fitness was important, and Hollifield played every sport available to her. In college, she began running–10Ks, half-marathons, and marathons. During her senior year in college, she applied to police departments all around Texas and decided to join the Houston Police Department.
“I finished first in the physical test,” she said. She asked the test administrator where to find a phone to call her mom. He showed her, and he stood with her when she called.
“She was at work, at American Airlines,” Hollifield said. “She started crying and said, ‘I’m so happy for you.’”
Hollifield graduated from college in May 1994, took a few months to travel, and then started the Houston Police Academy.
She retired from the Houston Police Department in 2016 after serving in a variety of roles, earning awards for her dedication and service. In a typical example of her “high-octane” life, Hollifield retired from HPD on a Friday, went to California to do an Ironman triathlon over the weekend, and started work at the District Attorney’s office in Conroe on Monday.
[To finish an Ironman triathlon, competitors must complete a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full 26.2-mile marathon run in rapid succession.]
In Conroe, where she was very active in St. James Episcopal Church, she felt called to ordained ministry.
“I told the rector, ‘I think God is calling me to ordained ministry,’” she said. “I discerned orders for stipendiary priesthood.”
Suzanne chose Seminary of the Southwest in Austin over Virginia Theological Seminary so she and her wife could stay closer to their granddaughter. But after the first semester of seminary, she felt like she could do more.
“I had been running on high octane for so many years that going to school didn’t feel like it was enough. So I asked God if there was any way to do both. Ultimately, God revealed a path where I could do both, and I felt called to do both. It’s interesting that through all of the discernment process, there was never a conversation about doing both.”
Her transition from Seminary of the Southwest to the Iona School for Ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas was smooth, but required her to sit out a year before starting. During that time, she was without a job.
“There are a couple of things I’ve always wanted to try,” she said. “One was to be a Starbucks barista. As a police officer, I drank a lot of coffee, and I wondered if I could keep up with the pace. I have to say, I had more pastoral opportunities through that drive-thru than you can imagine. People tell you about their lives in the drive-thru: a cancer diagnosis, a pet dying, divorce. A number of people changed my life, and I hope I helped them.”
In addition to her barista gig, Hollifield reconnected with a former colleague in Montgomery County who asked her to help them develop a better animal cruelty department, which she did, in addition to her barista work. When an opportunity opened up at the DA’s office—where she had worked before—she returned. That was almost three years ago.
Hollifield was ordained to the Diaconate on June 15, 2024, and to the Priesthood on February 28, 2025. Through it all, she continued her rigorous training—and hiking, which has become her newest sport.
“My mom failing that physical fitness test has had a big impact. My mom set me up for something special. I love hiking and have hiked all over the world. I walked the Camino [de Santiago] two years ago.
“For me, the Iona experience was exactly what I needed when I needed it. They prepared me so well. There’s no ego involved. The professors want you to be ready and feel ready, and want you to be the best at what we are called to do. I want to be the best, and the people in my church deserve someone who wants to be excellent. Iona gave me a wonderful start.
“Now, 30 years later, I still love policing. I go every day with so much love for what I do. I’ve won awards, and I attribute that to the care of the police academy. I love the priesthood too, and that’s because of the way Iona formed me. Conversations along the way trained me to have conversations with no ego involved, just the desire to be really good at what I’m doing. I’ll forever be grateful to the program and to Bishops Doyle and Ryan for letting me transition. I do believe I have always been called to this. And I love how ‘cop’ is embedded in ‘episcopal.’ It couldn’t be more clear.”
She added, “I have the most amazing parents in the world. My dad’s father was an Episcopal priest, and all my first memories of church are sitting in church on the second pew on the right side. I’m grateful for parents who dragged me out of bed when I didn’t want to go and put me in that pew on Sunday. The Episcopal Church has shaped my life. I had two parents who loved me dearly and taught me how much God loved me. It has sustained me in the valleys and helped me celebrate the mountaintop experiences.
“I’m grateful to my parents for teaching me about the church and how important community is. That’s what Iona is–a phenomenal community of people who want to do God’s work in the world. So much of it began with my mom and dad.”
What’s next for Hollifield?
The next peak to ascend—literally—while continuing to maintain her connections with Iona colleagues.
“My days are full,” she said. “I won’t give up mountain climbing. I don’t know how I get it all in. One day, when I was so overwhelmed, I opened the Bible to Isaiah 41:13. ‘…I take your right hand…,’ which reminds me of God walking alongside me. And there are plenty of people around me I can go to for help.
“Iona offers so much support. All the people I met in the program make such a positive community, which is why I’m so grateful to Iona and the program and to the Rev. Nandra Perry and her team for making it better and better. I’m one of the luckiest people in the world.”
She’s training for hikes this summer, in particular the 29029 Everesting Challenge in Jackson Hole, WY. The 29029 is the steepest of the “Everesting” hikes, so named because competitors climb Snow King Mountain 19 times and must finish in 36 hours. The 19 treks up (cable car down) are equivalent to summiting Mount Everest in the Himalayas.
One definition of hiking is “to travel by any means,” and Hollifield’s vocational path certainly fits that description.
