Kay Day Receives Distinguished Alumna Award in Mission
The Rev. Mary Catherine (Kay) Day ’97, a teaching elder and honorably retired mission co-worker with the PC(USA), spent 14 years in Africa—first in Malawi, and then in Rwanda. She now serves as pastor of First PC Church Castle Shannon (Pa).
Arriving in Malawi in 2006, she taught at the Zomba Theological College. In addition, she became training chaplain and administrator at the country’s Chigodi Women’s Center, focused on equipping Christian women with practical skills and biblical knowledge. She served as part of Pittsburgh Presbytery’s partnership with Blantyre Synod, Malawi; her work included working to provide clean water access for impoverished communities.
Four years later, Kay moved to Butare, Rwanda, where she worked to prepare people for pastoral ministry at the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences. There she taught English and theology to students from five different denominations, and she also pastored an English-speaking congregation near the Institute. Rwanda is a country longing to heal after genocide. While the government worked to remake the buildings, Kay and her colleagues focused on the people’s relationships.
Before her time in Africa, Kay had excelled in education and ministry. After earning advanced degrees in both English and divinity, she taught high-school and college-level English. She also pastored several congregations for more than a decade.
For all these reasons and more, the Seminary honored Kay with the Distinguished Alumna in Mission Award in 2021.