Clergy & Staff
The Rev. Becky Binns
RectorThe Rev. Becky Binns joined us in March 2020 as Rector of St. Paul’s. Raised in RI, Becky went to Rhode Island College for her degree in Art Education, but detoured to Togo, West Africa to volunteer with the Peace Corps before launching into her teaching career. When she returned, she taught art for a short time, but ultimately became a Director of Christian Formation which led her to seminary. She attended the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge and received her Masters in Divinity in 2012, the same year that she began an eight year long ministry as Associate Rector of Trinity Church in Concord. Becky is delighted to have found St. Paul’s and to live in Natick now, in our rectory, with her trumpet-playing husband, Greg, and their two children. When not on Zoom, the Binns-Gettel family is having a great time getting to know Natick by bike, foot, and kayak.
Katy Denning
Lay Associate for Parish LifeA native of the beautiful “Big Sky” country of Montana, Katy received her BA in English (with a minor in Geology) from The University of Montana and then, after living and working in both New York City and Denver, Colorado, she moved to New England and earned her Master of Divinity Degree from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge (now the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College) in 2005.
Since then she has served as a Pastoral Associate at a Parish, a High School Theology Teacher, Campus Minister and Director of Mission and Ministry in a variety of parish and educational settings. She was most recently the Director of Admission for a small preschool and elementary school in Newton.
Katy has been married for 13 years to her husband Brian and they have two children, Gavin and Leah. She and her family began attending St. Paul’s on the First Sunday of Advent in 2015 shortly after moving to Natick from Somerville and have enjoyed becoming active members of such a warm and welcoming community. Her interests include nurturing Women’s Spirituality, exploring Trinitarian Theology and Feminist Theology and finding new ways to live as a family through the Liturgical Year/Seasons. In addition, she loves getting out in nature and hiking, traveling with family and friends to new places and the poetry of Mary Oliver!
Kelvyn Koning
Music MinisterKelvyn Koning (they/he) specializes in composing for choir and theatre and performing as a countertenor and pianist. They hold a Bachelor of Arts in Composition from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI and a Master of Music in Composition from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Kelvyn has been commissioned to write pieces for Boston Latin School, Chandler MS, Zeeland HS, Batesville HS, Arlington HS, the Da Camera Singers, Northwest Hills United Methodist Church, the First Parish in Needham, Quorum, and the Oriana Consort. Their latest works include two full-length musicals, The Glassblower’s Daughter at the Regent Theater and The Prince and the Painter with Moonbox Productions.
Kelvyn is a founding member of the Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, for whom they sing and compose music, and has also sung with the Calvin Alumni Choir, Quorum, and the Oriana Consort. They performed as a soloist at the Beaver Island Baroque Festival in their home state of Michigan and have premiered several new vocal and piano works by their friends in Boston. Kelvyn accompanies voice lessons, choirs, and musical theatre at Boston Conservatory and plays piano as a soloist and accompanist around Boston.
In the various hats they have been privileged to wear in the musical community, Kelvyn notices themself being consistently drawn to the world of worship music. They believe innate community-building embodied in singing together fosters a much-needed sense of unity, companionship, and social justice that is both exciting and fulfilling. This is an area where they want to continue to contribute their voice, both literally and figuratively. Kelvyn's goal as an artist and leader is to foster empathy, healing, and social justice for individuals and communities through music and text by writing and performing accessible music hybridized from a variety of genres including classical, jazz, gospel, folk, rock, pop, and show tunes. Their philosophy is that different types of music can work together harmoniously to create new and beautiful things, just as different types of people can, and that words have great power to inspire and heal. It is also their mission to advocate for underrepresented communities, particularly in the world of worship music which has long been white male dominated. Though white and often male-presenting, Kelvyn sees it as their responsibility to use their voice to lift up the voices of others and to encourage students, colleagues, and those in positions of authority to do the same. They believe that being a part of St. Paul’s will provide the opportunity to do this on a broader scale, with the potential of having a widespread positive impact to make worship more accessible, inclusive, and diverse.
Lynn Farnell
Administrative AssistantSince March of 1995 I have been working freelance/consulting in several distinct areas. One is with moving image archives; another is doing research, mostly at the JFK Library and I also worked for a couple of property management companies at affordable housing properties around the Boston area. Before that I worked at public broadcasting station WGBH for 20 years running the production end of things.
Working through some of the wonderful collections I have had the privilege of handling over the past years has been a joy. I have mainly worked on collections in the Boston area. Notable among them is the over 500 reels of kinescopes of "Voice of Firestone" that resided at the New England Conservatory of Music. The Blackside production collection that created a heritage for Henry Hampton, creator of “Eyes on the Prize”, and his view of American democracy was my favorite project. That enormous collection found a permanent home at Washington University in St. Louis.
I was a biology major in college and still love nature and the biological sciences. I also love to work on craft projects. I hook rugs, needlework, knitting and house restoration (of the minor sorts), and garden.
I am a cradle Episcopalian and a long time member of St. Mary’s in Newton Lower Falls although I have been a drop in at St. Paul’s since I moved to Natick. I am very happy to be a part of St. Paul’s.
Shawn Tardif
Facilities InternLucy Prespolis
BookkeeperLucy joined us in the Spring of 2020. She works closely with our Treasurer and takes care of all of our bill payments, payroll, and financial record keeping. We are blessed to have her here among us!
Leo Borges
Sunday SextonLeo joined the St. Paul's Team in the summer of 2023 as our Sunday Sexton. He graciously took on the challenge of being our Sunday building host while also cleaning the church and offices around our Sunday morning schedule. Since he arrived, St. Paul's has sparkled! When he isn't at St. Paul's, Leo runs a cleaning business. Heralding from Brazil, Leo now lives in Everett. His amazing work ethic, meticulous care of our spaces, and deep kindness are a gift to our community.
The Rev. Chris Visminas
Priest AssociateOrdained for over thirty years as an Episcopal priest, the Reverend Christine Visminas holds a B. A. in theology from Duquesne University and an M. A. in theology from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. For 20 years she ran C. E. Visminas Co., Ltd., which sold bulletin covers, stationery and children's books based on traditional Christian images, including icons. After selling the company to Morehouse Publishing, she worked part-time as a conservation agent for the Town of Framingham, a position that included law enforcement, wetlands identification, and inspection.
For the last decade, Chris has served as a Christian adult education consultant and has created classes on a variety of subjects, including the History of Marriage and The Meaning of the Dead Christ. Frequently her courses involve museum visits which is how she became involved with the Museum of Russian Icons and curated “Pondering Mary: Her Story Through Icons” exhibit which ran in the Spring of 2017.
Over the past few decades, Chris has worn many different hats at St. Paul’s including joining our staff during various seasons of need. Currently, she is a non-stipendiary priest associate and teaches our 8:45am Sunday morning adult education class, as well as several diocesan classes (all on Zoom).
Chris has been married for over forty years to Steven Clark, a software engineer. She has two sons, both of whom work in the computer field. The eldest is married and has two lovely daughters. Her hobbies include gardening, needlework, and geology.