The morning of July 25, 2024, Pope Francis named Father Kevin Thomas Kenney, a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, assigning him the titular see of Cunavia.
His episcopal ordination took place. Monday, October 28, 2024, at the Cathedral of Saint Paul.
Download his official portrait.
More About Bishop Kenney
Bishop Kenney was born in Minneapolis on December 29,1959 to William and Dorothy Kenney. He is the fifth of eight children. He grew up in Minneapolis, attending Annunciation Grade School in 1974, then graduating from DeLaSalle High School in 1978.
Bishop Kenney earned degrees in business administration and Spanish from the College of St. Thomas (now the University of St. Thomas) and upon graduation moved to Chicago to work as a lay volunteer with the Claretian Missionaries, a religious community of priests and brothers founded by St. Anthony Marie Claret. In that capacity, he worked for two years with inner-city youth and taught English as a second language (ESL). The Claretians then hired him as the director of the Claretian Lay Volunteers. After leading that program for two years, he entered formation to become a Claretian and was sent to Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago to complete his studies for priestly ordination. After five years of formation with the Claretian Missionaries, he discerned that he was being called to the diocesan priesthood and was accepted as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. While in formation at The Saint Paul Seminary, he completed his last credits towards his Master of Divinity with a world mission concentration from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago in 1993. On May 28, 1994, Archbishop John Roach ordained Father Kenney to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Following ordination, Father Kenney was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Olaf in Minneapolis, serving the business community and the homeless from 1994-1998. In 1998, he was sent by Archbishop Harry Flynn to pastor the parish of Our Lady of Peace in South Minneapolis. After serving one six-year term at that parish, Father Kenney was transferred to lead the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in St. Paul, where he served from 2004 to 2015, providing pastoral care to the vibrant and growing Latino community in the area. From 2010 to 2018, he served as Vicar for Latino Ministry, and in 2013, he was instrumental in reopening the Office of Latino Ministry for the Archdiocese.
In 2015, Father Kenney was named pastor of Divine Mercy parish in Faribault and the Church of St. Michael in Kenyon.
In 2019, Archbishop Hebda asked Father Kenney to return to Minneapolis to serve as pastor of St. Olaf and administrator at Sts. Cyril and Methodius, a parish that originally served Slovak Catholics but that now serves as a hub for the Ecuadorean community in the Twin Cities. In addition to these assignments, he has served as a chaplain at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis and as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas teaching Intro to New Testament in the three-year Latino Lay Ministry Certificate Program.
