Leadership
Reverend Penni Chambers, Vicar
Mother Penni Chambers began serving as Vicar of The Church of the Holy Family on September 1, 2025. She first arrived at Holy Family as a seminarian field placement student in September 2019. After graduating from the IONA School for Ministry through the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, in June 2021 she served St. Bede’s Episcopal Church, Santa Fe, as a transitional deacon for almost a year.
Mother Penni’s ordination as an Episcopal Priest was a joyous occasion celebrated at Holy Family on June 3, 2022. This marked the beginning of a new chapter with Holy Family, signifying both a new call to ministry and a strengthened bond with the congregation. Mother Penni served as an assisting priest, and then as an associate priest under the direction of Pastor Corinne Hodges.
Coming from a Methodist Church tradition, Mother Penni first experienced the Episcopal Church in 1998. She attended St. John’s Episcopal Church, Odessa, Texas, with her soon-to-be husband, Charles. She remembers feeling immediately at home in the Episcopal Church. Her priest quickly offered Penni the opportunity to serve as both a Eucharistic Minister and a Eucharistic Visitor.
She was confirmed by Bishop Ohl on the Day of Pentecost (May 23) 1999. and soon was elected to serve on the St. John’s Vestry. The more she became involved in the Church, the more things she felt God calling her to do. It was during this time that Mother Penni began to get a sense that she might be called to ordained ministry. But having a full-time career running her own CPA practice and raising a teenage daughter, she just kept telling God, “I’m just too busy.”
Charles and Penni were fortunate to be able to retire in 2014 and moved to Santa Fe. They attended Holy Faith, were active, serving as acolytes, and participating in many areas of church life. It was during this time that Penni realized that her call to ordained ministry was only growing stronger, and with much prayer and discernment, she realized that she was, in fact, not too busy to answer God’s call.
Charles and Penni are blessed with three daughters and four grandchildren. They cherish the time spent with their family and enjoy traveling throughout God’s beautiful world.
Mother Penni is enthusiastic about pastoral care, preaching, and serving both Holy Family and the wider community. She and Charles are grateful that God has brought them to The Church of The Holy Family and look forward to many years of serving God together.
Reverend Kathy Boeschenstein, Assisting Priest
Mother Kathy recently retired after serving the last twenty years in the Dioceses of Colorado, Montana and the Rio Grande. Most recently, she was Vicar of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Raton, NM. Prior to that time, she assisted at St. James in Taos, served as Vicar at St. Luke's Westcliffe, CO, Rector at St. Andrew's in Polson, MT, and Curate at St. Gabriel the Archangel in Cherry Hills Village, CO. Mother Kathy attended General Theological Seminary in New York City and was ordained in 2003. Before seminary, she worked as a therapist and in the area of child protection. Currently she is a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children in the foster care system and also teaches an online parenting class to parents who struggle with addiction.
Mother Kathy loves to bake and once had a one-woman bakery! She enjoys walking several miles a day, no matter where she is. She knits, crochets and reads a lot. Currently she is making blankets for homeless shelters and to outfit apartments that are available for those who have been homeless. Mother Kathy was born in Brooklyn, NY, and has two children and four grandchildren, who live in CO. One daughter is an art therapist and one is a full-time mom.
Frederick Frahm, Church Musician
Frederick Frahm is an accomplished composer, publisher, keyboardist, and a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA) where he earned degrees in Church Music and Organ Performance. He directed church music programs in Lutheran, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic parishes across the US for 40 years before retiring from full time music ministry in 2021.
Fred’s well published catalog of compositions includes works for organ, choral music, chamber pieces, art song and song cycle, along with a symphony, organ concerto, and extended vocal works including operas, oratorios, and cantatas. His organ works are regularly performed in major churches across the US and Europe including the National Cathedral in Washington DC, the Memorial Church at Harvard University, as well as Ripon, Southwark, and Canterbury cathedrals in the UK. He is a Co-Founder and Director of Firehead Organ Works.
From 2011 to 2022, Fred served as a collaborative teaching artist, resident composer, and accompanist for the Santa Fe Opera Company LifeSongs & Active Learning Through Opera (ALTO) programs. In 2021, he hired on full time with Augsburg Fortress, one of his long time publishers, as a Production Editor on the congregational team where he works with new choral and instrumental music publications.
Fred and his wife Susan live in Placitas where they enjoy cooking together, the Sandia Mountain views, gardening and long walks, as well as the company of their God-children who live just across the street.
Bishop's Committee
Tim O’Malley, Bishop’s Warden
I was raised Roman Catholic. Having worked for the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix, AZ, as a project manager for a major fire reconstruction, I then assisted the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona as the Clerke of the Works (over fifteen years). My work with the Episcopal Church confirmed to me their open and non-judgmental philosophy. When we moved to New Mexico in March 2019, we decided to attend the Episcopal Church. After looking at websites of the three Episcopal churches here in Santa Fe, we sought out Holy Family. It was warm and welcoming. I enjoyed the service, especially the Sermon and communion service.
Erin Caldwell, Treasurer
I grew up in a Southern Baptist and an Evangelical Free Church. I was baptized when I was about 11 years old. I went to a liberal arts Christian college (Wheaton College in Illinois.) My senior year, though, a good friend of mine got involved in an urban church in Chicago that a professor from Wheaton also attended. I started attending that church with the professor, and it helped my faith to see Christianity in action in that neighborhood.
I still attended evangelical churches as a young adult, as I didn’t know other churches, but then was involved in a Mennonite church (not old order or plain), and found that Anabaptist theology with its emphasis on peace, justice and generosity resonated with me. When I got married, my husband and I found another church together near our home, and then the last 6 months of our time in Denver started attending an Episcopal Church where an acquaintance of mine from the E. Free church and Wheaton College was the music director.
When I was looking for a church in Santa Fe, I decided to look for an Episcopal Church, and found Holy Family. I like small churches, and Holy Family feels like my family.
Katherine Rowe
My husband, Phil, and I moved to Santa Fe two years ago, arriving on All Saints Day. I have been attending Holy Family since that time, first via livestream, then in person (yeah!).
I was raised in a Christian household where many relatives were pastors: some Presbyterian, some Methodist, some Church of the Brethren, some Baptist. At age 15 I met God in the Anglican Church while overseas and never looked back. The liturgy, the grounding in scripture, the lay participation, the welcoming breadth of the American Episcopal version all drew me and keep me meeting God in an honest and joyful way.
I have been a speech-language pathologist for over 35 years, working in low-income public schools. I have mostly worked with non-verbal students who require pictures or machines as a way to communicate. For the last 4 years, I have been working as a reading tutor in low-income neighborhoods. I am currently working for ReadingQuest, a non-profit tutoring program, at our neighborhood schools: Nina Otero and Sweeney.
As far as church leadership goes, I have participated in and led just about every aspect of church life with the exception of money and buildings/grounds. I have been the junior warden, worship steward, education director, music team leader, liturgist, welcoming steward, preacher, EFM mentor, and discernment committee chair. Specific skills I would bring to the Bishop’s Committee include organizational abilities for both administration and worship, an understanding of our church as part of the larger world Church and a deep commitment to our call to service in God’s name.
We are blessed to have three Episcopal churches in the Santa Fe area and I attend services, bible studies and special events at all three every week. As part of the bigger church, opportunities at Holy Family for worship, study and service can grow. In addition, I see Holy Family as perfectly situated to support the families, businesses and services in the South side. In addition, with new housing going up quickly in the area, we will have plenty of opportunities to offer God’s love to our new sisters and brothers. What a privilege!
Dan Donoghue
I have been coming to Holy Family for over seven years and have received solace and guidance from each service. I came to Holy Family from a Catholic church and was received into the Episcopal church in 2019.
For the past ten years, I have been a project manager and sales manager at an IT consulting company, RESPEC, based out of Albuquerque. I sell our services nationwide, with a particular focus on data management. I have also served in the US Navy and the Department of State.
I hope to bring my years of experience in marketing and community service to the Bishop’s Committee and continue to expand our amazing and generous support to those less fortunate in our community.
I plan on supporting our community outreach efforts and work with the Vicar, the Warden and the rest of the committee to continue to grow our church in all our efforts to expand our reach.
My most memorable experience at Holy Family was the gift I received after I broke my foot. I was in a no-pressure cast and had to get around on a knee scooter. I was depressed and had trouble at home and at work. The first time I was able to make it back to a church service, the congregation presented me with a prayer blanket that I treasure to this day. It made all the difference in the world in my recovery.
Candia Thew
I’ve been a Holy Family church member since 2018, after I retired as a librarian from the Texas Tech Health Sciences Library in Lubbock and moved to Cochiti Lake, with my poodle, two cats and several full bookcases. A cradle British Anglican/now American Episcopal, I have searched spiritually beyond its doors but found my home right where I started! Along the way, I have become a Daughter of the King and a Third Order Franciscan (hence the TSSF). Here, at Holy Family, I have served as a Bishop Committee member, on the altar guild and, currently as a Reader. As part of this family, where I have been welcomed with open arms, I participate in our Red Sky Book Club, our Prayer Squares and Ken Kochbeck’s Wednesday evening Bible Study group. I recommend all three! In the future, I’d like to see our church family continue to grow, to support our outreach programs and to find ways to help our church become more solvent.