Dear friends,
Many of you have been very kind to talk to me about how important it is to get some additional help in terms of priestly clergy. Believe me that I’ve been feeling it, too. The Cathedral is certainly of a size where at least part-time support in the form of an assisting priest would be smart, if indeed we are serious about continuing to increase our capacity and diversity. We’ve been needing someone who is warm, available, and teachable – someone with a good basis of life experience and what I like to call a low center of gravity – someone who already knows in her bones what good leadership is about.
I’m so happy to let you know that Jody Carroll, a candidate for the priesthood in the Diocese of West Missouri, will join the clergy staff of Grace Cathedral as Canon effective June 6. I know she will both fulfill and exceed expectation.
The flexible schedule we’ve agreed upon for now will see her here on Sunday, Tuesday, (overnighting into) Wednesday, and working from home on Thursday.
Her commencement from BKSM will be on Saturday, May 20 at 10:30 a.m. at Grace Cathedral; ordination to the transitional diaconate will take place Saturday, June 3 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City at 10 a.m. Ordination to the priesthood will follow in about six months.
She is set to join us for worship on Pentecost Sunday. I hope you will warmly greet her then.
“I’m excited about every single bit of it,” she told me. “Excited to meet everyone at Grace Cathedral. Excited to worship and follow Jesus with them, continue formation with them with their assistance and with God’s grace.”
I was highly impressed by Jody’s homiletics work in my Preaching 1 and 2 courses this Spring at BKSM, and I asked her back to preach at Grace. (Eagle-eyed congregants will recognize her as the homilist from Evening Prayer at our final Lenten Wednesday-night service on March 29.)
Jody retired from a financial services career at American Century Investments in 2020 and since then has studied at the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry. She told me about hearing the unmistakable voice of God back in 2018, when touring the Holy Land and bobbing on the wind-tossed Sea of Galilee.
“God was pretty present and saying, ‘You know what? We’ve got things to do. Here’s what I want you to do.’” It was the clarion call to priesthood.
Jody is one of four girls. She grew up in Lee’s Summit, MO, and left from 1989-92 to serve in the Navy as a welder attached to the destroyer tender USS Yellowstone for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. “It matters to me to have served my country,” she said.
She has since returned to Lee’s Summit. She is married to Kelley Angel who is originally from San Antonio, TX, and who is a retired lab tech from the oil and healthcare industries. They have property that is a “place of respite” in Blanco, TX, in the Hill Country. They are moms to dogs Hazel Grace and Gus and a cat named Jack. I’m told they all get along.
Jody and Kelley are fans of the Kansas City Symphony. They travel and attend local plays and concerts. They also volunteer for cancer support organizations Gilda’s Club and Little Pink Houses of Hope. Jody has long served the board of the George H. Nettleton Foundation which grants funds to organizations serving the elderly in the KC metro. She’s taking piano lessons.
My being able to tell you these things is a very big deal for me. It’s something I’ve prayed over for the past several months. The current supply of available clergy is thin, and getting good and trustworthy people to work with is paramount. We are blessed beyond belief to have our regular staple of Deacons Chubb and Edwards, as well as other ordained persons who capably serve when called. I’m excited for Jody to join this team of Cathedral clergy and staff.
Yours in Christ,
Dean Lightcap
701 SW 8th Ave.