 She served as pastor of Holy Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Mahanoy City, Pennsylvania, from 1982 to 1986; St. John Lutheran Church, St. Clair, Pennsylvania, from 1982 to 1986; and St. John Lutheran Church, Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, from 1983 to 1986.In 1986, she accepted the call to serve as pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Torrington, Connecticut.Kucharek was elected to a 6-year term as bishop of the Slovak Zion Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on June 22, 2002, succeeding Juan Čobrda, and re-elected to a second term on June 28, 2008 and a third term on November 17, 2014.