Alumni Profile: the Rev’d Julia Warren ’26 M.Div.
Rev’d Julia Warren ’26 M.Div.
“You can do anything at Berkeley if you work for it,” says recent graduate the Rev’d Julia Warren ’26 MDiv. “Berkeley is what you make it.”
Julia has always been drawn to creating and curating spaces for community engagement. Before arriving at Berkeley Divinity School, Julia was a lighting designer, developing illumination schemes for themed entertainment across the country. She also served in a variety of ministry roles in the Diocese of Los Angeles, from shaping youth programming to helping with multiple music ministries. Upon matriculation to Berkeley, Julia began applying her gifts as designer, musician, event planner, and facilitator towards bringing to life creative liturgical experiences for students at Yale Divinity School and the Berkeley community. “I wanted to learn as much as possible - to engage in the practicalities of ministry as much as possible during my three years here.”
Rev’d Julia Warren ’26 M.Div. on the river
For Julia, the practicalities of ministry include both hard and soft skills, from the logistical to the managerial to the relational, and those skills are best learned by doing.
Throughout her time on campus, Julia has been at the heart of nearly every large-scale student effort and at the forefront of stewarding community worship. As a Berkeley Chapel Minister and then as Senior Chapel Minister, Julia helped lead others in the curation of both daily worship and special events, coordinating ministry teams and worship that included students, faculty, the Berkeley Board of Trustees, and special guests, such as the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Past Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.
Rev’d Julia Warren ’26 M.Div. as Crucifer at Hartford Cathedral
As Co-director and Producer of this Spring’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar, Julia engaged students, faculty, and staff to pull off the full-blown rock opera in Marquand Chapel, a performance that involved 7 YDS deans, the director of the Institute of Sacred Music, a music pit made up of faculty and students, and an audience of almost 450 people. The production relaunched the Yale Divinity Drama Club and gave Julia an opportunity to use “every single skill” she honed during her time at Berkeley and YDS.
But it is the quiet preparation that happens before worship that often feels most precious to Julia. “It’s an honor to steward worship,” she says, “to change out the candles, polish the brass, water the flowers, set the board in St. Luke’s Chapel. That’s my prayer time.” As Senior Chapel Minister, Julia modeled that quiet attentiveness to nurturing the worship space, and she also encouraged students to stretch themselves and try on roles they may not have tried before, from sacristan to lector to officiant. “There is no better practical training than participating in all the aspects of the daily rhythms of St. Luke’s worship,” she says.
Following graduation, Julia plans to return to the Diocese of Los Angeles with her husband, Andrew Kilkenny. “Berkeley is where I needed to be, and now I’m excited to return home and get to work,” she says. Julia will be ordained to the diaconate in June 2026 and hopes to begin her next chapter in parish ministry.