05/23/2026
News from The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia:Upcoming Ordination & Clergy Transition
The Rev. Karen E. Klein has been called as Curate at Christ Church, Fairmont, and St. Thomas à Becket, Morgantown. She begins her ministry with those congregations on July 1.
Klein is a native of Huntington and lived in the Charleston area most of her adult life. After careers in newspapers and law, she discerned a call to the priesthood and enrolled at Virginia Theological Seminary in 2023. While at VTS, she served as Student Body President and as a seminarian at St. Paul’s, Alexandria, under the guidance of the Rev. Oran Warder, another native West Virginian and Marshall graduate.
Klein grew up at Trinity, Huntington, and she first became involved in the church at the diocesan level as president of the Episcopal Young Churchmen, representing the diocesan youth as a voting member of Diocesan Council and Diocesan Convention in the early 1980s. As an adult, she has served the diocese since 2009 as chancellor and vice chancellor and has been parliamentarian at Diocesan Convention since 2014. She also served as a lay deputy to three General Conventions, and was elected as clergy alternate to the 2027 General Convention. She is a regular attendee at the diocesan Women’s Conference, and has been a Peterkin camper and camp staff member since the early 1980s. She loves music and sang with womanSong Chorale and the West Virginia Symphony Chorus in Charleston before attending VTS.
God willing and the people consenting, Klein will be ordained to the priesthood on Monday, May 25, at St. Matthew's, Charleston, where she has been a member of the choir, lay chalice bearer, and lector since 2003.
Welcome home to West Virginia, Deacon Karen!
