Kori Pacyniak (they/them) is a non-binary Catholic priest and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Riverside, focusing on Queer and Trans Studies in Religion.
Kori was born in Chicago to a Polish immigrant family in 1982. They grew up speaking Polish at home as their first language and lived in a multi-generational household with their grandparents until age five. Their family was very involved in the Polish diasporic community and culture. Raised with the belief that being Polish inherently meant being Catholic too, Kori’s family attended church on Sundays and Holy Days and celebrated holidays in a traditional Polish manner. Choosing not to attend one of the many Polish Catholic parishes in Chicago due to the “fire and brimstone” preaching style, Kori’s parents chose a more progressive parish with vibrant children’s programming and enrolled them in public school (to the chagrin of some relatives).
Even as a child, Kori was fascinated by Catholicism. Mass was pretty with all its smells, bells, and songs. They also possessed and expressed big feelings early in life that were convention-bending in religious and personal dimensions. When they were about eight years old, they told their grandmother that they wanted to a priest but she replied that priests were boys—to which Kori responded that they wanted to be a boy then. In another instance, at church they had an activity in which young students were asked to write about what their Catholic education meant to them. Since Kori did not attend Catholic school, they felt that this was discriminatory and demanded that they be able to write about what their public education meant to them.
Leaving home at fifteen years old, Kori started to attend a math and science boarding school outside of Chicago beginning in their sophomore year of high school. They became more involved in ecumenical religious work on campus and attended daily mass at a local Catholic high school. At this time, their career goals were seemingly diametrically opposed. They aspired to become a nun or the first woman Navy SEAL. They pursued an appointment to the Naval Academy and nearly had it, but they had too many prior injuries and medical conditions to obtain waivers for them all. Thus, they wrote to a Poor Clares convent in the Netherlands and the Carmelites in Maryland with hopes to join one of them; however, both replied back encouragingly that they should go to college first. Kori then enrolled at Smith College, a private liberal arts women’s college in Massachusetts, with the idea that they would enter a convent at the end of their education.
Kori’s first “coming out” was during freshmen of college at Smith. They came out as bi and although they felt that this was a big announcement, their friends were not surprised because they already knew. Taking their college chaplain’s course on women mystics was life-changing gateway to a new world. They read works from Pauli Murray, Teresa de Avila, Edwina Gateley, and many others. This introduced them to the progressive Catholic movements of Pax Christi, Call to Action, and the Women’s Ordination Conference. Specifically for the Women’s Ordination Movement, they had recently ordained women on the Danube and were making the news. Kori reached out to them as well but needed a career first because they could not financially support anyone at that age. They continued to be involved with the Neuman Center, ecumenical work, and interfaith work at Smith College because 9/11 happened during their sophomore year. Uncertain what to do after graduation, they moved to L.A. with their platonic life partner and took a two-year break from the church.
After that two-year break, Kori still felt called to do more work with the church so they started their Master’s of Divinity (MDiv) degree at Harvard Divinity School. In their first year, some Episcopalian friends invited them to attend their Friday mass. After some deliberation, Kori finally joined them and was emotional the entire service. They began attending weekly Episcopal services as well as the reading group that followed. In addition, they lent their baking skills to the reading group and became part of the Episcopal community on campus and completed an internship at St. Luke’s and St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church as part of their field education requirement. During that span, they met and were exposed to female, queer, and transgender clergy which helped expand their understanding of vocation and the priesthood. Their time at seminary was also marked by a growing understanding and ability to articulate their gender, coming out as transgender and genderqueer.
The queer scene in Boston in 2010 was difficult for Kori, who was trying to navigate their emerging transgender identity. A narrow expectation of what trans masculine looked like pervaded the community and Kori did not feel that they fit the expectation. They wanted to be a trans man who wore dresses that twirled but that prompted questions if they were truly a man. Kori continued to discern their gender and eventually came to understand that their gender lay outside the male/female binary. Reconciling competing commitments to faith and gender was not an issue for Kori, rather it seem that institutions, with their exclusions of queer and transgender persons, were the problem. Although they experienced various high and low periods during their faith journey, it was never due to believing God did not love them for being trans. Queerness and transness were not a mistake, but just another aspect of how God created them.
Following their time at Harvard Divinity School, Kori worked at various non-profits and church organizations including the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut before pursuing a Masters in Sacred Theology (STM) at Boston University School of Theology where they focused on trauma theology and addressing how military chaplains might address the needs of transgender service members. While taking coursework in pastoral theology in Fort Worth, Texas, Kori applied for a job in San Diego to be a pastor of Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community. Applicants did not have to be ordained and would be assisted through the process of ordination which was an attractive aspect; however, Kori was not certain they would be hired. The congregation was older and Kori did not necessarily want to move back to southern California at the time. But the hiring process happened during Donald Trump’s presidential election. Due to living in Texas, and the on-going southern border issues, Kori felt that if Trump was elected that San Diego, another critical border location, was where God was calling them to be. Trump was subsequently elected and they got the job offer. Their first day on the job was the day after Trump’s presidential inauguration, thus their first parish event was the Women’s March in January 2017.
Kori served as pastor of Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community (MMACC) from January 2017 to October 2022, becoming their first transgender and queer pastor. During this time they began a Ph.D. at the University of California, Riverside in queer and trans studies in religion while also beginning the ordination process with Roman Catholic Women Priests. They were part of contingent of faith leaders that marched at the front of the San Diego Pride Parade and have participated in San Diego Pride’s Light Up the Cathedral Interfaith Service for several years. Their ministry also included collaboration with the local chapter of the NAACP, border actions with local groups, and outreach to queer and trans Catholics. They were ordained as a deacon in June 2019 at MMACC and then ordained as a priest in February 2020 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in San Diego. Their ordination became a press event because they were the first openly non-binary trans person ordained with the Roman Catholic Women Priest movement and was attended by friends and family from near and far, including friends from high school and college as well as their college chaplain. Luckily, no protestors disrupted the event, but they did receive some death threats afterwards. Six weeks after their ordination, the world shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kori was able to help pivot the congregation to online worship and community and was instrumental in getting the community online. Today, all of community’s liturgies continue to take place in a hybrid online and in-person format, allowing the community to grow beyond the San Diego area. In the fall of 2022, Kori made the difficult decision to step down from full-time parish ministry to focus on their doctoral work, but still remains a part of the community and occasionally preaches and presides at mass.
Currently, Kori is most engaged with finishing their dissertation “Sacred Bodies, Sacred Lives: Trans Catholic Joy, Resistance, and Liberation” which draws on interviews with trans Catholics to explore questions around liturgy, ethics, and belief for trans Catholics. They were named a 2024 Charlotte W. Newcombe Dissertation Fellow in religion and ethics. Kori hopes to eventually publish their research and make it available to Catholics (and send a copy to the Pope and to Bishops). Their current ministry involves exploring ways to create space for trans Catholics. Additionally, they teach courses in religion, gender, and lgbt studies at the University of California, Riverside and at San Diego State University. They also currently serve on the Board of Directors for LGBTQ-RAN.
(This biographical statement was written by Elizabeth Herrick from an interview with Kori Pacyniak on March 1, 2024 and was edited by Kori Pacyniak. Photo credit: Richard Renaldi,)
Biography Date: May 2024