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The Rev. Cathi Braasch brings several decades of experience in congregational life, mission and ministry development to her service as Pastor of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, rural Smithfield (Gosper County) Nebraska.
Before coming to Hope in September 2002, Pastor Cathi served for 15 years as a lay member of the churchwide (national) staff of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Her assignments included:
Mission Director for the Division for Outreach in Region One-East (serving synods and congregations in Montana, Idaho, Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and northern Wyoming )
Director For ELCA Rural Ministry in the United States and the Carribean.
Director for Leadership for Outreach Ministries, ELCA Division for Outreach.
Executive Director, Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Before entering full-time ministry in 1988, she worked for 14 years in the private sector, holding progressively responsible management positions in higher education, health and human services. She also maintained a private practice as a consultant and trainer in organizational leadership and development.
Pastor Cathi earned her Bachelor of Science in Education (journalism and American studies), graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, WI. She received her M.A. In Organizational Leadership and the St. Ignatius of Loyola Magis Medal for exemplary integration of leadership, scholarship and service from Gonzaga University, Spokane WA. Her Master of Divinity degree is from The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
She is active in the Nebraska Synod’s Operation IDEA leadership initiative, serves on the Parish Ministry Associate Steering Committee, and represents the Synod on RENEW Nebraska. Along with lay representatives from Hope Lutheran Church, Pastor Cathi is involved in the Congregational Partners Project of the Atlanta, GA-based Fund for Theological Education. She previously served on the Nebraska Synod’s Rural Ministry Task Force and the executive board of Nebraska Lutheran Campus Ministry.
She volunteers as chaplain with the Phelps County Sheriff’s Department, Phelps Memorial Health Center, Holdrege, and Bertrand & Rural Volunteer Fire Department. She contributes written devotions to local newspapers and broadcasts devotions on local radio. During hazardous weather, you can usually find her watching the skies as a trained volunteer weather observer for Region 15 Emergency Management Agency.
In addition to full-time pastoral ministry, Pastor Cathi is a wife, mother and ranch woman. She and her husband, Red, live at the Hope parsonage in open country between Smithfield and Bertrand, NE. They raise Angus cattle and Suffolk sheep on their ranch south of Smithfield. She likes to read, cook, and does some quilting when time permits and inspiration strikes.
Red and Pastor Cathi are parents of an adult daughter, Sara Braasch Schmidt, who is an Assistant Chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (Western US Region). Sara and her husband Jim live near Boise, Idaho.
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