Canon for Children and Youth Programs
The Rev. Cathy Dempesy is the Canon for Children and Youth Programs and Pastoral Care. She has been with St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral since 2006.
All education opportunities for children and youth are initiated and coordinated through her office. This includes Sunday school, Youth Group, confirmation for those under 18, Vacation Bible School, and the Christmas pageant. Additionally, Mother Cathy serves as the chaplain to the choristers, offering pastoral care and support to the choir children, both who are members of St Paul’s and those who are non-members. She supervises our Eucharistic Visitors who visit our homebound parishioners, tracks clergy visits to the sick, and coordinates the Pastoral Care Committee. Cathy is developing the partnership with Literacy Volunteers of America so that St Paul’s Cathedral can serve as one of the solutions to the problem of functional illiteracy in the City of Buffalo and Erie County.
Before her clergy vocation, Mother Cathy had a very active and vibrant career as a professional counselor with over twenty years experience. She worked in community mental health agencies in the Chicago metropolitan area, specializing in the treatment of women addicts and their families. Mother Cathy has also served as a member of DuPage County’s disaster and crisis response team. She also maintained a private counseling and consultation practice through which she taught graduate counseling classes, and she provided mental health and substance abuse consultation to area domestic violence shelters, Headstart programs, and local churches. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She graduated from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois, with a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology. She also holds a Master of Divinity degree from Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, Columbus, Ohio.
Mother Cathy was born and raised in Chicago, and she has lived in Buffalo since 2001. Anyone who knows her for more than a minute or two knows about her love for her two dogs, Scout and Cooper. Cathy has an obsession with baseball, most especially the Chicago Cubs. Hopefully all who know her will realize that she loves to laugh.
E-mail Mother Cathy Dempesy
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