The Church of the Ascension
Staff & Leaders

  • Edwin Chinery
    Assisting Priest

    The Reverend Edwin Chinery was ordained to the priesthood in June 2010. Most recently, Father Chinery served as half-time Priest-in-Charge with St. Mark’s Keansburg in the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey. In addition to this work, he also served part-time with Grace Episcopal Church in Plainfield, NJ, the town where he was born and raised. Prior to his seminary studies, Father Chinery had a career as Benefits Administrator for Middlesex County, NJ where he was a volunteer with a variety of social service programs including mental health and chemical dependency, homelessness prevention, and AIDS care and treatment. In the course of this work, Father Chinery is grateful to have held leadership roles in the areas of board governance, program planning and policy development; the related skills both helpful in understanding the nature of public advocacy, as well as being readily transferable to any brand of parish ministry that seeks to blend secular social service with community of faith experience. Father Chinery attended the General Theological Seminary where his studies focused on spirituality, scripture and preaching. In addition to a Masters in Divinity, he graduated with certification as a Spiritual Director.

  • Dennis Keene
    Organist & Choirmaster

    Dennis Keene began at Ascension with Vernon de Tar, and is now our organist and choirmaster. He is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of New York’s Voices of Ascension Chorus & Orchestra. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Chorus America and has served on the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, he has given numerous workshops and master classes on conducting and on choral music.

  • Andrew Jones
    Parish Administrator

  • Elizabeth Maxwell
    Rector

    The Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell began her ministry as Rector of the Church of the Ascension in January, 2015. She has lived and worked in Manhattan for 25 years, first as Associate Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Chelsea, which also made her Program Director of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, the largest emergency feeding program in New York City), and then as Interim Pastor of St. Michael’s Church on the Upper West Side. She is delighted to join with the people of Ascension in discovering and witnessing to the gospel in the heart of Greenwich Village.