MEET PARISHIONER Glynne Kinard: Striving to Share the Love of God Each Day

Here at the Holy Family Cathedral, we have a pretty good thing going. While Glynne Kinard loves to bake, she doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth herself — so, many of her baking delicacies end up here! Glynne serves in the St. Elizabeth Bakers, making sweets for everything from the Newcomers Breakfast to Wednesdays at the Cathedral and retreats. Having formerly worked as a pastry chef at a local restaurant and several bakeries, she certainly knows what she’s doing!

“I love baking,” she says. “It’s so relaxing to me.”

Glynne also shares these skills with the Hospitality Ministry, where members make food for youth and social events at the cathedral. She is also active with the Food and Fellowship group and Women’s Club and serves as an usher. And since Glynne is a licensed therapist, Fr. Kastl will occasionally ask her to meet with an engaged couple preparing for marriage.

“It means a great deal to me to have Fr. Kastl ask me to help these couples that are preparing to take the Sacrament of Matrimony,” Glynne says. “Once they are married, they have been given this light, and they take that light and continue it in the community.”

She feels so blessed by this community and each cathedral member she has met along the way.

“This church is my home,” Glynne says. “I’ve really come to embrace my faith over the past 15 years.”

Glynne was raised in New York City. To attend a respectable school at the time, you had to be Jewish or Catholic. Glynne’s parents were Protestant, but they wanted their children to attend a good school.

“So, I was raised Catholic by Protestant parents,” Glynne says.

Glynne remembers the sisters who taught her asking the students what they wanted to do as adults.

“I always said, ‘I don’t know what I want to be, but I know I am called to serve,’” Glynne says. “That’s what I strive to do is serve God’s people.”

Mental health is very important to Glynne — she serves as the Community Mental Health Officer for the Tulsa Police Department. In turn, she strives to educate people and break the stigma surrounding mental health.

Another important aspect of Glynne’s faith is being a committed adorer for Eucharistic Adoration at the Cathedral.

“Adoration has served as the place and time when the rest of the world stops for me, and I get to spend time with the Lord,” she says.

It’s important to Glynne that parishioners and visitors feel welcome at Holy Family Cathedral. She believes a simple way to be hospitable is to smile at folks during the Sign of Peace and make sure you show people you mean it when you say “peace.”

“We can let our light come through in just those few seconds,” Glynne says. “We need to show the love of Christ, and we want people to feel that love. I don’t care who you are — come through the doors and know the love of God.”

Glynne has found it is important to do more than attend Mass and receive the sacraments. Following Christ means serving Him in whatever way you can. And that is what she strives to do, whether she’s baking cookies for the St. Elizabeth Bakers or bringing up the gifts as an usher.

“I feel honored that God has called me to serve His people,” says Glynne. “During a stewardship retreat, Fr. Golka said that God calls us to serve because He believes in us. That has carried me through many tough times and always makes me smile.”

For Glynne Kinard, Holy Family Cathedral is home.