PARRISH – The Rev. Deacon S. Michael Kitt has been named Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southwest Florida.
The role of the Archdeacon is described in the Diocesan Constitution as one who assists in the administration of the affairs of the Diocese. In the Canons, the Archdeacon serves ex officio as a voting member of the Council on Deacons. The Bishop also looks to the Archdeacon as an advisor on all aspects of the discernment, formation, assignment, and continuing education for deacons serving in the diocese.
The Ven. Kitt currently serves on our Council on Deacons and is the Parish Deacon of Good Shepherd in Venice. He also serves as Vice Chair of the Commission on Ministry. He was appointed to the Bishop Coadjutor Search Committee, serving as Chair of the Finance and Recruiting Committees.
Kitt was ordained to the diaconate in February 2002 in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago. He believes that his diaconal ministry began in the mid-1980s when he established a weekly soup kitchen ministry in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago which lasted 30 years.
In the Diocese of Chicago Kitt served on the Deacons Formation Commission. For six years he chaired the Diocesan Commission on Global Mission which focused on their companion relationship with the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Mexico. He traveled to Mexico extensively over an eight-year period, helping to establish several sustainable parish-based businesses and building a water purification system in his sister parish’s community. He served on the Cathedral Chapter of St. James in Chicago and as a Director of the Association for Episcopal Deacons. Archdeacon Kitt also worked in community organizing advocating for affordable housing, accessible health care, and worker rights.
As a bi-vocational clergy, he served as CFO for the Delves Group, a consulting firm, retiring in December 2015 upon selling the practice. He also served as Chaplain of the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Northwestern University retiring in June 2016.
Archdeacon Kitt and his wife Stephanie have been married for 40 years and are both lifelong Episcopalians. They moved to Venice from Park Ridge, Illinois in June 2017.