[News Archive]

Jodi Kissner joins staff of
St. Joseph, Hagerstown 

by Judy Williams

Jodi Kissner in the Youth Minister for Middle school, grades 6-8, at St. Joseph Parish in Hagerstown.  She joins forces with Teresa Kelly, Youth Minister for grades 9-12.

Among the parish youth ministry goals has been the expansion of the program, to include 6th grade.  Now, with 6 grades being ministered to, the duties have been split between the two youth ministers.

For the past three years, Jodi has been teaching science at Martinsburg High School, in Martinsburg, West Virginia.  Prior to that, she worked for 18 years as a medical technologist.  A graduate of Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, Jodi holds a bachelor degree in Medical Technology.  She also holds a teaching certificate from Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Jodi grew up in Chambersburg, and was raised in the United Church of Christ.  As a young adult, living in Utah, she was inspired by the Catholic faith of some close friends.  She enrolled herself in the RCIA program at a local Catholic church and entered the church.  Now, 19 years later, she remains active in the church, not only as a youth minister, but also as a 7th grade catechist, vacation bible school director and cantor.

Jodi and her husband, Jeff, live in Clear Spring and have two children, Joseph, 17 and Jessi Rae, 13.

Jodi's Middle School Youth Ministry meets every other Sunday.  She has a small group and is hopeful that enrollment will increase as the program continues.  The parish has a large Hispanic population and Jodi hopes to involve more of those youth as well.  To that end, she will be speaking at the Masses on a Sunday in the near future.

Jodi incorporates elements of spirituality, socialization and service-minded activities into her ministry.  She is sensitive to the needs and desires of the youth, and allows them to lead the direction of the program.  Among some planned activities is a Youth Ministry New Years Eve party.  A social concerns project that St. Joseph's Youth Ministry program is working on benefits the seafarers who come into the port of Baltimore from other countries.  The parish youth are collecting boxes and filling them with such things as snacks, magazines, toiletry items, knit caps, socks.  These boxes will be turned  over to Msgr. John FitzGerald, who runs a Catholic ministry for seafarers in Baltimore.

Always mindful that we are all part of a greater family - that of the Church - Jodi finds inspiration in Paul's letter to the Ephesians,

So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners,
but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and
members of the household of God,
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone.

                                                                                                                            Ephesians – 2: 19-22

The CEM Center welcomes Jodi to ministry in Central Maryland!