Kathy Killian Noe to deliver 2023 Commencement Address

Kathy Killian Noe, author, pastor, community builder, visionary and founder of Recovery Café and the Recovery Café Network, will deliver Wake Forest University’s commencement address on Monday, May 15.

Recovery Cafés, started by Noe in 2002, offer spaces where those who have suffered homelessness, addiction and other mental health challenges can experience a sense of belonging and an opportunity to contribute to the community. With the opening of the newest Recovery Cafés in May 2023, there will be 67 Recovery Café communities across the United States and Vancouver, B.C. 

The author of two books: “Finding Our Way Home” (2004) and “Descent Into Love” (2015), Noe is also part of the national nonprofit, Unite, committed to healing divides in our nation and world.

“One way to change structures and systems that are leaving out large segments of the human family,” Noe has said, “is to create what the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. called ‘beloved communities,’ communities that show what it looks like when those people aren’t left out.”

A 1980 Wake Forest graduate, Noe received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015. The award recognizes alumni who reflect the spirit of Pro Humanitate through their service to community and alma mater. Wake Forest Magazine published an article on Noe, “Living in a Broken World,” in 2017.

“Wake Foresters are called to embody Pro Humanitate at home and in the world. Killian’s commitment to this calling is inspiring and we are fortunate to have her join us,” said University President Susan R. Wente.

Noe has been shaped by intentional communities she has spent time with all over the world, including the Ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C.; Mother Teresa’s sisters in Kolkata, India; and the Joweto community in South Africa, which is committed to racial reconciliation. 

Before starting Recovery Café, she co-founded Samaritan Inns, a network of transitional and long-term housing communities in Washington, D.C. Throughout her adult life, Noe has also nurtured and led faith communities committed to crossing racial, socio-economic, religious, political and other barriers. 

Wake Forest’s commencement ceremony is a ticketed event reserved for graduates, their families and guests and is not open to the public. The ceremony takes place on Hearn Plaza at 9 a.m.

Media credentials are required to attend commencement events. Parking passes will be required to enter campus. All members of the media are also asked to carry their own media credentials. Email media@wfu.edu to request credentials and parking passes no later than Monday, May 8. 

A livestream webcast of the ceremony will be available on the University’s commencement website and a recording will be posted after the event.

Baccalaureate Speaker Selected 

Also joining Wake Forest for the commencement weekend will be baccalaureate speaker and 1992 Wake Forest alumna Bishop Kym Lucas, the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Church in Colorado and the first woman bishop as well as the first African American bishop in the diocese’s 132-year history. 

Bishop Lucas grew up in Spring Lake, N.C., and received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Wake Forest University. She received her Master of Divinity, New Testament, at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Bishop Lucas and her husband, Mark Retherford, have four children.

Baccalaureate will take place Sunday, May 14, at 11 a.m. in Wait Chapel. Like commencement, baccalaureate is a ticketed event reserved for graduates, their families and guests and is not open to the general public. 

A livestream webcast of the ceremony will be available on the University’s commencement website and a recording will be posted after the event.

Additional information about Wake Forest’s commencement weekend is available at commencement.wfu.edu.