For Christ’s Church Rector Kate Malin, leaving was the last thing on her mind.
“I’ve been here 6-1/2 years, which in the church, is kind of the moment when things really come together and shared visions begin to be realized,” she said. “So I was very much feeling like I was hitting my stride here.”
A church renovation was off the ground. And an overarching vision of being a 21st century church in a 19th century building and providing an open and welcoming place for anyone seeking to find God regardless of background was in motion.
So, when the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City approached her about the position of rector, Malin was torn. “I was not sure up until the very last minute that I would apply, but it felt like there were many signs and indicators that I should at least explore this.”
One was her strong connection to New York City.
Before becoming an Episcopal priest, Malin, who earned a B.A. in Theater Studies from Yale University in 1987, was an actor for 10 years, performing in theater companies in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Cincinnati, and San Diego.
She met her husband Bruce Smith while performing in Manhattan and they raised their children Murphy, Emerson, and Owen there. All three of their kids are actors in New York City.
Her spiritual life took root in the Big Apple. She received her Master of Divinity from General Theological Seminary in Chelsea and was sponsored for ordination by St. James Church on Madison Avenue.
“There was a part of me that always dreamed of and hoped to return at some point in my career, back to New York, where I have always felt was home,” she said.
Malin prayed for clarity, grace, and calm as she searched her soul to discern whether she was being called to take on this new position. Writer and theologian Frederick Buechner’s words helped her, she said.
Photo Alison Rodilosso
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” he wrote, which left Malin feeling “a dawning awareness that God has work for me to do in another location, another corner of God’s vineyard, as we say.”
As she prepares to say goodbye to the Christ’s Church community, her last day is to be Sept. 8, Malin is gratified by the work she has done in this “corner of God’s vineyard.”
She credits Rye with helping her discover her place as a priest within a community as well as the comfort and hope she could offer beyond the church walls.
“I’ve loved that exploration of what kind of role I might be able to play in a community like this, a community where people really do know each other, know each other’s kids, know each other’s dogs,” she said.
She has loved the variety her role has afforded her.
“Go bless a boat at the American Yacht Club. Go do the benediction at the Memorial Day parade. Go to the Osborn and speak at their Harvest Festival. Get out in the community and without apology bring a bit of teaching, a bit of faith, a bit of maybe, spirit, to his highly achievement-oriented, competitive, anxious, over-scheduled system, parents and kids alike,” she said.
Malin’s arms are wide open to young people in particular. Covid left so many feeling isolated and adrift.
“I’ve been a priest and working with teenagers for 20 years,” she said, “and I remember the moment when I started hearing, ‘I have social anxiety,’ you know, like I’ve never heard a teen say that and then all of a sudden, every teen.”
Under her tenure, the church dedicated itself to meeting the needs of area students whose reading and math levels dropped during the pandemic.
“Kate is a vanguard of bridging community,” said Cynthia Howard, senior warden of the church’s vestry. “She heartily supported the launch of ‘Blue Skies,’ which is an after-school and summer camp enrichment experience for under- served Port Chester youth and Rye teenagers.”
Malin is particularly moved by the opportunity that an annual pilgrimage to the Taizé monastery in France offers local teenagers.
“The teens are put to work feeding hundreds of people every day and cleaning toilets,” she said. “They also have unstructured time and space in this beautiful, remote part of the world to reconnect with what’s important.
Photo Alison Rodilosso
“I’ve had kids say to me, ‘Until this trip, I don’t remember ever being present. I was always thinking about what I just did or looking ahead to what was coming.’”
Malin also treasures her collaboration with Rabbi Daniel Gropper of Rye’s Community Synagogue.
“From the moment she arrived, Kate has been a friend, an ally and a wonderful collaborative partner,” said Gropper. “To connect those affiliated with our two houses of worship, she fully embraced the idea of co-teaching a Bible class called, ‘Roots of Faith.’”
The shared class touched Malin.
“In this moment, in our experience of national identity, there’s this incredible rise of antisemitism and violence toward Muslims and a rise of white Christian nationalism,” Malin said. “It is absolutely imperative that people who recognize that for the evil it is, speak in one voice and speak against that.”
Malin’s previous vocation as an actor has shaped who she is as a priest by allowing her to access the deepest of human emotion and find a way to communicate and receive it.
She also draws upon her theater background to make the teachings of the church relatable.
“I very much want the experience of coming into worship to be something that is joyful and funny sometimes and transcendent and alive,” she said. “We’ve done a wide range of different expressions of prayer and spontaneous gestures that have become traditions.”
She cites the Halloween service, where kids and adults attend in costume, as a favorite among parishioners.
Photo Christian Falcone
“Halloween is rooted in a culture and a time and place where death was much closer and the veil between this world and the next was very thin,” she said. “There was a way to encounter fear and also faith and gratitude for lives that have gone before. And fun — an occasion to be children again.”
Malin’s creativity and steadfast belief in the goodness of her faith’s teachings have touched a wide swath of Rye.
Rabbi Gropper will always remember her kindness at a sorrowful time.
“After the events of October 7, when Hamas brutally attacked and murdered innocent Israelis, Kate was one of the first people to call me,” he said.
Jim Scully, vestry junior warden, said, “Kate has created a vibrant community within Rye, deepened our reach into Port Chester, while leading a very successful capital campaign allowing us to care for and upgrade our beautiful historic campus.”
And although Malin is sad to say goodbye, she knows Christ’s Church will be in good hands.
“This is such a healthy, alive church with incredible leadership, that I feel like I can leave with a full heart and know that my successor is going be handed the blessing of this amazing community, that I will always be proud of whatever we’ve set in motion.”