Alum to speak at Saturday Service of Celebration
The Reverend Carla Pratt Keyes ‘92, pastor of Ginter Park Presbyterian Church in Richmond, will be the featured speaker at Saturday’s Service of Celebration for 2012 graduates at the College of William & Mary. The service will be held Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., William & Mary Hall.
It is a multi-faith worship service planned by the Senior Class and Campus Minstries United (a group that represents major faith traditions). The service consists of music, readings, and prayers, as well as a keynote address. The subject of Keyes’ address will be “Anxiety: Its Gifts and Antidotes.”
Keyes received her B.A. in History and International Relations from William & Mary and her Masters of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1995. After a year of postgraduate study in the United Kingdom and a nine-month residency as a hospital chaplain, Keyes was ordained to the ministry of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in 1997.
She has been a pastor of the University Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, La; the First Presbyterian Church of Covington, Ga.; and St. Andrews Presbyterian Church of Tucker, Ga.
In 2007 she became the pastor at Ginter Park.
Keyes was born in Virginia, but moved from place to place growing up as part of a Navy family. She has preached and written liturgy for national conferences, has written numerous prayers for publication, and has helped teach preaching and worship to students of Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond.
Keyes is one of the founders of NEXT Church, an organization working to foster relationships among Presbyterian congregations.
Following Keyes’s address, there will be a blessing of the graduates featuring a variety of religions, including Hindu – SPc. Deepak Jain, Hindu Priest and Active Duty US Army; Jewish – Rabbi David Katz, Temple Beth El, Balfour Hillel; Christian – John Maxwell Kerr, Episcopal College Chaplain; and Muslim – Ali Faruk, Islamic Center of Virginia.
