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STAFF

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The Rev. Kathryn "Kat" Banakis
Rector
kbanakis@stlukesevanston.org

Kat previously served at St. Luke’s as Community Connector, Theologian-in-Residence, Assistant Priest, and Vicar. Outside of serving at St. Luke’s and other churches, Kat has also worked at a fundraising consulting firm; as the head of finance for an education access non-profit; and as a federal lobbyist building national coalitions around issues of affordable housing and community development.

Kat has a demonstrated commitment to combining issues of the day with inter-faith and inter-denominational efforts. She is producer and host of the Holy Holy Podcast, which combines contemporary topics, secular experts, and an interfaith panel of Chicago-area faith leaders. She served on the board of the Beatitudes Society, an organization for faith and public life that later became affiliated with the multi-faith Auburn Seminary. Her book, Bubble Girl: An Irreverent Journey of Faith, provides an overview of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic approaches to Christian thought.

Kat was ordained a priest at St. Luke’s in 2012.  She holds a Master’s of Divinity from Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music, a certificate in Anglican Studies from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and a BA in religious studies, also from Yale. In recent years, she has been recognized with the Duke Divinity Innovation Grant, as a Duke Divinity Leadership Emerging Christian Leaders Fellow, the Louisville Institute Pastoral Study Project Grant Recipient, and as a Transition into Ministry Lilly Fellow. She and her family live in Chicago.

St. Luke's Staff 

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