Kelly is a Benedictine Oblate of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, PA. She currently serves as the Director of Residence Life Ministry and Director of the Campus Ministry GA Program at the University of Dayton. She finds great joy in working with colleagues in ministry to serve undergraduate students and in forming graduate theological students for lay ministry in the church. Kelly also currently serves on the state board for Catholic Campus Ministry in Ohio and recently offered a plenary address on praying the Liturgy of the Hours at the National Pastoral Musicians Convention. 

Prior to ministering at the University of Dayton, Kelly served for nine years as the Catholic Chaplain on a multi-faith ministry team at Ohio Wesleyan University, a United Methodist related university. In her role at OWU she partnered with the Benedictine sisters of Erie to pilot a college cohort of Monasteries of the Heart. She also planned a conference on contemporary monastic practice that included traditional monasticism and the new monastic movement.

Kelly earned her MA in Theology at Xavier University and completed a Post-Master’s Certificate in the Practice of Spirituality from Boston College. She graduated with a BA in Psychology from Ohio Wesleyan University.