Around the Island

Quinipet celebrated at Union Chapel

Union Chapel in the Grove welcomes the Reverend Dr. Karen A. Monk, Pastor, Kaaterskill & East Jewett United Methodist Churches, to preach at the Camp Quinipet Sunday service on July 17 at 10:30 a.m. Her sermon is titled “Tending the Fertile Soul.”

A United Methodist pastor in New York for over 20 years, Reverend Monk was raised in East Texas and studied Christian education and psychology at Southwestern University. She made her first pilgrimage to Shelter Island and Camp Quinipet while studying at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. 

A lifelong advocate of outdoor education, she has served in a variety of roles in the three facilities of the New York annual Camping & Retreat Ministries Conference, including the introduction, with Quinipet Director Greg Nissen, of the week-long Women’s Sailing Program at the camp.

As a pastor, Dr. Monk has served in both rural and urban settings in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. Holding a Doctor of Philosophy degree in psychology and religion, she enjoys teaching and has served as an instructor at SUNY New Paltz, Union Seminary and most recently as a guest instructor for a preaching class at Woodburne Correctional Facility. In addition to her pastoral work, she is a psychotherapist and an emergency medical technician. Dr. Monk is an avid football fan, a novice jazz aficionado and a wannabe gardener.

Baritone Thom Milton and organist Linda Betjeman will present the music of Scott Soper and H. T. Burleigh at Sunday’s service.