Pastor Kathy Rooke remembers giving communion to her siblings when she was still in grade school. So it was no surprise the Tampa resident was eventually called to pastor a church of her own.
On Nov. 1, Rooke presided over the first service at Faith Family Community Church, which operates in the building owned by St. Mark’s United Church of Christ.
“We share fundraisers and the building, but we are two separate entities,” the former Tampa Metropolitan Community Church associate pastor said. “We are independent and two separate entities.”
The new Christian church is the only official LGBT-affirming church in the area, according to Rooke. While the UCC is accepting, Rooke said that denomination doesn’t have anything official in its bylaws concerning LGBT people.
“St. Mark’s considers itself affirming,” Rooke said. “The UCC is accepting and gained a lot of momentum with its ‘God is still speaking’ campaign a couple of years ago. But they have told us that we’re the only voice out there for LGBT people in this area.”
The church has grown impressively in its first month. The congregation began with a dozen or so people and reached nearly 60 people before Thanksgiving.
“About a dozen people approached me and asked if we could have a church presence in this area,” Rooke said. “I prayed a lot about it and then determined that we could. I knew that’s where God was calling us and this is where we needed to be.”
Rooke has been on a spiritual path since she was a child. In the 1970s and 1980s she was a Sister of St. Joseph within the Catholic Church, but left when the church refused to ordain her. In the 1990s she worked as an English professor before moving to Florida with her partner Mary Ruggeri nearly five years ago.
She was ordained two years ago and served as Associate Pastor at Tampa MCC until beginning the new church.
“We want to invite the community to try our church,” Rooke said. “We do communion every week and we offer a modern liturgy. We are an accepting option for members of the Christian faith.”
The Faith Family Community Church meets every Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at 2914 Lithia Pinecrest Road in Valrico. Several holiday events are in the works, Rooke said, and details will be announced soon. For more information on the church, call 813-482-2804.
