image above: Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe introduces John Rohde and Pat Kinney at the 150th Convention of the Diocese of Central New York. The two will be ordained this Saturday in a ceremony at St. Paul’s Church in downtown Syracuse. Photo: Sue Cenci.
Will you be at St. Paul’s Church in downtown Syracuse this Saturday to welcome our diocese’s newest clergy?
Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe will ordain Pat Kinney of Moravia, NY and John Rohde of Syracuse, NY to the Transitional Diaconate on December 1st at 11:00 a.m. Both John and Pat arrive at this point in their vocational journey after years of discernment, ministry, and intensive study.
Following their ordination, both John and Pat will continue on the ordination track for the Priesthood.
We recently interviewed them over email. Please pray for John and Pat as they prepare for ordination and continue in ministry in our diocese!
Can you tell us about your background?
Pat:
I’m a lifelong Episcopalian and have lived in the Finger Lakes region for most of my life. I received a BA in Art Education and a Master’s from SUNY Empire. For 34 years, I taught elementary art in the Moravia Central School District, where I also led gifted and talented programs and coordinated students for Odyssey of the Mind, an international creative problem-solving program. I traveled extensively with middle-school students throughout the world and continue to enjoy traveling.
In preparation for ordained ministry, I completed the School for Christian Leadership program at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School in Rochester, the diocesan Lay Preaching class, and the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Upstate Hospital in Syracuse. I’ve served as a ministry intern at Grace & Holy Spirit Church, a blended Episcopal/Lutheran congregation in Cortland (supervised by the Rev. Pete Williams), and I’m currently interning at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ithaca with the Rev. Megan Castellan.
I’m an active member of the Cursillo community in Central New York and have served as a Spiritual Care provider for the Mission of Miracles with our Companion Diocese of El Salvador. I have also helped to establish a food pantry and a backpack food program, and currently lead a prison ministry team.
I’m married to Grant Kinney, a cabinet maker, and we have two children, Laura and John, and four grandchildren. We share a love for traveling and for spending time with family.
John:
John leads the children’s sermon at his first ministry internship placement, St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Liverpool.
I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1962 and baptized at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral soon after. Our family relocated to Syracuse, (where my father was from) when I was a toddler. I have two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary Lynn and we’re all 11 months apart—and very close.
As a child my family attended Calvary Church and Grace Church in Syracuse. I attended Syracuse City Schools, and being musically inclined, I attended the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam where I earned a BM in Music Education. From there I taught instrumental music in Syracuse for 5 years, then I got out of teaching and lived and played in Los Angeles and New York City. While in New York I earned an MA in Jazz Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College.
In the mid-nineties I relocated back to Syracuse where I have played professionally and taught music since. It was on the bandstand where I met a great singer, Andrea Miceli, who would one day become my wife.
Having been “un-churched” from my late teens through my 30’s, I felt a push to engage a tradition and visited what was then St. Paul’s Cathedral around 2000. I knew instantly I was home. My involvement steadily and consistently increased and I first started to engage a discernment to ordained ministry about 12 years ago. I describe the final decision to quit my job, enter the discernment process and attend Seminary as “as no longer being able to say no to the Holy Spirit.” I earned my M. Div. this past May from Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.
Where are you currently doing ministry, and what will you be doing after your ordination?
Pat:
Pat (center, light green blazer) serves on the Coordinating Team for our Learning Communities Initiative. The team is pictured here as they are commissioned at the 149th Diocesan Convention.
I am currently serving my second internship with the Rev. Megan Castellan at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ithaca. I am assisting with preaching once a month and helping with two services a month at an area senior residence. I am supporting stewardship and pastoral care committee work. I expect to continue to help at the office and to begin working at the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen located at St John’s. I continue to assist with the Moravia Food Pantry and Backpack programs, as well as the prison ministry every other week.
I will continue to serve as part of the coordinating team for the Learning Communities Initiative. I have recently joined a newly formed Stewardship team for the diocese.
John:
I am currently serving at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Marcellus under the Rev. Dr. Steven Moore, where I’ll continue to serve after ordination. I’m assisting with liturgy on Sundays and preaching every third week, as well as leading Morning Prayer on Fridays. I’m also planning some adult formation programs and some special services. I’ve assisted musically with a Taizé service and will do again in the future. In the coming weeks I’ll be rebuilding the church’s website and bolster its email communication.
What’s your hope or your dream for your ministry in the Diocese of Central New York?
Pat:
My dream is that I will serve a small congregation, pastoring and preaching. My work with the Learning Communities Initiative will help to inform my role as a facilitator and encourager for the ways God is already present in this congregation.
John:
I hope that whatever form my ministry takes, it might reflect the fact that no matter what we do God couldn’t love us more, we are never alone and God wants to be in real relationship with us and all of creation.
As you reflect on the journey that has brought you to this point, to whom or to what do you feel most grateful?
Pat:
I am profoundly grateful for the cloud of angels who have embraced me, encouraged me, advocated for me and handed me boxes and boxes of tissues as I’ve wept my way thus far!
John:
I’m grateful to the communities and families that have held me and continue to hold me up and support me through this process: this diocese; my seminary; my sending parish, St. Paul’s, Syracuse; my placements, St. Matthew’s Liverpool, St. Peter’s Cazenovia and St. John’s Marcellus; my immediate family, my sisters and father, our mother Virginia (deceased) who was the greatest teacher of unconditional love I’ve ever known; my musician family; and the rock of my life, my wife.
