Deacon Dennis Kelly

A deacon, religious or lay ecclesial minister appointed by the Archbishop under the supervision of a priest moderator and entrusted with the day-to-day leadership of a parish. (CIC, c. 517 §2). The term of office for Pastoral Coordinator in the Archdiocese of Seattle is generally one to three years.

Deacon Dennis Kelly came to Christ Our Hope and St. Patrick Parishes after serving seven years as deacon of the paired, multi-cultural parish communities of Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Everett. At the time of his arrival, he’s also led Maryknoll’s national Deacon Mission Partners team. Dennis attended Maryknoll’s annual Central American Martyrs Pilgrimage just after his 2012 ordination, and fell in love with Maryknoll’s mission theology, El Salvador and Guatemala. There he heard God’s call to learn Spanish.

After a two-month immersion in summer 2013 in Antigua, Guatemala, he returned home to serve as temporary pastoral leader of his two parish communities in Everett in 2013-2014. Dennis then served as Director of Campus Ministry at Archbishop Murphy High School in Everett from March 2014 to June 2016. In summer 2016 he answered God’s call to help found an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to homeless street medicine
and outreach in Snohomish County. Today, MercyWatch has over 200 volunteers, seven organized street medicine clinics, and does homeless street outreach two nights a week.

Before entering full-time ministry, Dennis spent 38 years in broadcast news, serving the last 20 years as brand manager of large news teams in Seattle (KOMO and KIRO). Dennis enjoyed his days in broadcast news but loves sharing the Good News even more now. 
 
Dennis married his wife Mary 35 years ago at St. Patrick Parish. She’s a communications executive with Boeing. They live in Mukilteo and have two sons Sean (30) and Connor (26 - and his wife/their daughter-in-law Erika Kelly). Dennis’s mother Suzanne is a longtime parishioner at Christ Our Hope and serves as a volunteer keeping sacramental records. He enjoys bike riding and relaxing at the family cabin in eastern WA. 

Deacon Dennis started his tenure at Christ Our Hope on July 1, 2019; and retired on June30, 2022.