The Reverend Catherine E. Taylor
Interim Senior Minister

Catherine E. Taylor became Interim Senior Pastor at First Congregational Church on June 15, 2006. She is in training as an Interim Specialist and is a Minster of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Catherine grew up in Washington D.C. and the Missouri boot heel, then went to Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, where she completed degrees in history and social anthropology (’76). She worked for many years as a freelance writer and editor, including a stint as a stringer for Newsweek and as a writer and editor with Modern Communications Group in Mobile, Alabama.

Catherine holds Master of Divinity (‘92) and Doctor of Ministry (‘04) degrees from Columbia Theological Seminary, Atlanta, Georgia. After serving three years as an associate pastor with Covenant Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, Catherine was called as pastor of Church of the New Covenant in the Atlanta suburb of Doraville, where she served for nine years. She has been a frequent preacher and speaker at national and regional conferences for her denomination and was a Featured Speaker on Day 1, the national radio program formerly known as the Protestant Hour. She has also appeared as a panelist for Day 1 on the Hallmark Channel’s Sunday morning segment, “America at Worship.” In 2004 Catherine was one of two US pastors named as a Campbell Scholar for participation in an international seminar on “The Mission of the Church in an Age of Religious Violence.”

Catherine has been married for 29 years to Robert C. Dean, Ph.D., M.D., Director of Behavioral Services for Cayuga Medical Center. Robert grew up in Ithaca and attended First Congregational as a child. They have two children, Tucker, a student at Northwestern University in Chicago, and Rorie, a student at Ithaca High School.

Email: cathtay@verizon.net
Phone: (607) 257-6033

The Reverend David A. Kaden
Associate Minister

David A. Kaden has been serving the First Congregational Church as Associate Pastor since September of 2005. David grew up in the northeast, the son of a pastor in the Reformed Church in America. He attended Messiah College in Pennsylvania where he studied business and urban economic development.

After college David and his wife Jacquie worked for a year with World Impact Inc. in Newark, New Jersey, a faith-based economic development organization.

David attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts where he received his Mastor of Divinity, summa cum laude, in 2003. And in June 2005 David received a Master of Theology in New Testament and Early Christianity at Harvard University.

Before coming to FCC, David served the Christian Union Church (UCC) in West Groton, Massachusetts as solo pastor while completing his degree at Harvard.

David and Jacquie have two children, David Joseph and Ellie Marie.

Email: davidkaden@fccithaca.org
Phone: (607) 257-6033