"We are blessed to have our old friend Kathy at the helm. The first Sunday Service we had after Katrina was at her house," said longtime member R. Boling. Kathy is pictured here with our updated sign, sporting one of our bicentennial t-shirts, after she stopped by to check on the garden beds. A fitting portrait, hardworking, welcoming, and casual: much like the members of the church.
Kathy started coming to First when she was five years old, after her family moved to a home a block away on Jefferson Avenue. She was confirmed in the church at the age of twelve.
Years later she was ordained as a ruling elder and served on the session during the pastorates of Revs. Ed Gouedy and Will Mackintosh. Her first career as a business and financial journalist took her to Atlanta, where she lived for fifteen years and was active in two Presbyterian churches. In the 1990s, she took courses for laypersons at Columbia Theological Seminary near Atlanta and realized God had been calling her to seminary for a long time. She enrolled at Columbia in 1996, thinking she would write spiritual books like the author Madeleine L’Engle. In the summer of 1998, she did a congregational internship at First under the supervision of Rev. Cliff Nunn and realized her call was to parish ministry.
Ordained on the first Sunday of 2001, she served three congregations and was active in the Presbytery of South Louisiana. She retired at the end of 2013 and has preached regularly in several churches in the New Orleans area. She is delighted to serve at First, her spiritual home, and looks forward to the journey ahead.
