The heart of it all
The tradition you were born into was your home, said Brother Wayne Teasdale, Christian sannyasa monk, activist and leader in global, interfaith movement. But as Mohandas Gandhi once wrote, it should be a home with the windows open so that the winds of other traditions can blow through and bring their unique oxygen. He said it was good to have wings, but we need to have roots too.
lifetime dedication
Kelly’s has spent a lifetime dedicated to interfaith healing. Kelly grew up all over the world, being exposed to other cultures and religions at a young age. This showed her the need for greater understanding between faiths, and their inherent oneness. As Kelly is often heard saying, “If you go to the heart of your own religion, you will go to the heart of every religion.” Her commitment to interfaith understanding is extraordinary and has a global impact.
Personal touch, global reach
Rev. Kelly embodies interfaith ideals. She’s one person, yet her commitment to interfaith work helped create a system of governance for global peace efforts. Through the GKCIC Table of Faiths event, she invites people of all faiths to break bread together and find belonging with each other, while celebrating the differences and the sacredness of another’s faith. Through exceptional commitment, leadership, courage and capacity for inspiring others to embrace vulnerability and compassion, Kelly provides a personal interfaith touch with a global reach.
Extraordinary Leadership
In 2009, Kelly facilitated the creation of an organized governing body and governing system for the Global Alliance for Ministries and Infrastructures for Peace. Through Nonviolent Communication, Appreciative Inquiry, and other interfaith strategies, she facilitated leaders from across the globe, having different languages, cultures, and religious backgrounds, in creating the structures that support their work to this day, with representatives in 25 countries.
While Kelly has been involved with Interfaith Councils for many years, her latest roles include the Vice Chair of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, and currently serves as the Chairperson of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council (GKCIC), where she teaches that interfaith work is about building a bridge between people who orient differently around faith, religion, or life philosophy, and then crossing that bridge. Her leadership brings together 25 leaders from 22 different faiths (some of which don’t believe women should be allowed in ministry) to synergistically address concerns and bring religious communities together in common purpose, understanding, and appreciation.
Extraordinary Courage
Through “Pilgrims with a Purpose,” Kelly coordinates affordable trips around the world. Participants not only tour their destination but serve the local community and explore the variety of religious perspectives among group members and the religion of the country in which they travel. She courageously brought one of the first tour groups through Egypt after the revolution, exploring Islam and Egyptian theology.
Of course, interfaith work is pervasive through every life experience, just as individual religious experiences are in the makeup of who every individual is. One area of life where this is demonstrated is in disaster relief. In a disaster, the Jewish home is destroyed right along with the Muslim, Hindu, and Christian home. Disaster relief work is interfaith work. This became abundantly clear to Kelly when she was aiding in disaster relief after Katrina and, more recently, devastating tornados in Joplin, Missouri.
As a spiritual leader, she worked with all faiths impacted. It takes courage to walk into the devastation of a tornado or hurricane. It takes great courage to cross the religious divide and provide spiritual support in such difficult times to those of many faiths. Kelly has also demonstrated courage in her work supporting those in 12-step recovery. Helping others of all faiths heal spiritual wounds and establish a meaningful and supportive relationship with a Higher Power in the face of addiction is also a remarkable demonstration of courage and immense interfaith skill.
Extraordinary Compassion
Kelly has helped transformed the GKCIC’s annual “Table of Faiths” from a standard fundraising dinner, where participants listen to a speaker, to one where all must be vulnerable with each other. Community tables are filled with people of various faiths who must interact to learn about and connect with one another. The lower cost makes it more accessible and participants leave not with a story about a speaker, but with new understanding and new friends.
For over 16 years, Kelly has also supported people with AIDS, bringing interfaith work, compassion and understanding to help alleviate the shame and stigma around the illness, which many religions still hold. This takes extraordinary vulnerability indeed, especially for those who live in more conservative towns or come from a more conservative religion and culture.