The Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, has welcomed the Rev. Beth Palmer as its new rector.

Palmer joined the congregation in the pulpit June 24, and her husband, David Rorick, a retiring school administrator, will complete their move from the Arlington, Va., area next month.

She is “thrilled and delighted” to lead one of Vicksburg’s most historic congregations.

“The church is beautiful,” Palmer said in an interview at her office this week. “We have such a gift, with the combination of our history and the tourism in this town. I’m looking forward to working with the congregation to develop ways we can share that gift.”

“She is wonderful, very energetic,” said longtime member Lee Davis Thames Sr. “She has invigorated the congregation. She preaches good sermons but is liturgically grounded, which is important to our worship.”

Holy Trinity was without a permanent rector for nearly a year and a half following the resignation of the Rev. Michael Nation, and the group searching for Nation’s replacement was nearly at the end of its list of prospects when Palmer was interviewed, said organist and choir director Dorothy Brasfield.

“We just fell in love with her,” Brasfield said.

The nine-member search committee conducted phone interviews and then arranged for her to visit. In the end, they were in unanimous agreement, said Brasfield.

Palmer, who will be 59 Monday, is a lifelong Episcopalian, and said she “wrestled with a call” for years.

She earned an MBA with a focus in management information systems from Pennsylvania State University while still in her 20s and had a successful 18-year career with a software consulting company.

“A lot of people, including my husband, were very sure that I was being called to ordained ministry long before I gave in to it,” she said. “When people would tell me they could see me as an ordained priest, I generally laughed.”

She was part of church group that helped another person discern a call to the ministry and when the group had completed their task she thought, “Maybe God will leave me alone now, because we’ve done this work.”

Instead, she entered a period that was “tumultuous” and “unsettled,” she said. She worked with a spiritual director and, a little over a year later, in July 2000, resigned her job and became a full-time seminary student — at the age of 47 — “which was a lot of fun and a great gift,” she said. She was ordained in 2003.

Palmer served as rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in West Point, Va., before moving to Vicksburg.

In her free time, she enjoys weaving and knitting, while her husband, who holds several degrees including a doctorate in music performance, takes photographs, she said. The couple enjoys golf and has two rescue “mutts.” Their son, Palmer Rorick, 26, lives in Williamsburg and works in retail, she said.

“I am excited about this transition,” said Palmer. “When things turn out in unexpected ways I’m often led to believe that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. I attribute my call to serve at the Church of the Holy Trinity to a lot of prayer and discernment, and the mysterious work of the Holy Spirit.”

A native of Pennsylvania, Palmer acknowledged a bit of a challenge, being a Yankee in the South, but added that she has lived more years south of the Mason-Dixon line than north.

“I love Vicksburg,” she added. “I love the history, I love the river, the arts, the beauty of the South.”