Our Staff

Saint Barnabas currently has openings for two part-time staff positions. Please review the positions and apply.

Rector — Reverend Valerie L. Balling: We are thrilled to announce the arrival of the Reverend Valerie L. Balling as Rector of St. Barnabas, effective August 15, 2011. Rev. Valerie grew up in Piscataway and is a proud graduate of Piscataway High School. During her childhood, Valerie and her family were members of St. Paul’s in Bound Brook. She attended Michigan State University, where she earned her B.A. in English and was an active participant in the Episcopal Ministry at MSU.  Following college, Valerie intended to become a High School English teacher, however God had different plans and directed her to volunteer for two years in Kentucky with the Christian Appalachian Project.   While serving in KY, she attended Trinity Episcopal Church in Danville. After volunteering, she came back to New Jersey and found work as the Administrative Assistant to the President of PRICE Systems, L.L.C., a small software company in Mt. Laurel.  During the next four years, she discerned her call to ordained ministry while attending St. Peter’s in Medford, New Jersey.  In 2002, she attended The General Theological Seminary in New York City, where she earned a Master’s of Divinity in 2005. She was called to be Vicar of St. Stephen’s in Mullica Hill, where she has served for the past six years. In 2011, she earned a Master’s of Science in Church Management from Villanova University.

Priest Associate — Rev. William O. Breedlove, II, TSSF: The son of a Baptist minister who followed in his father’s path and after college and seminary, was ordained in the American Baptist Church. His years at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago started him down a different spiritual path from that in which he had been raised and shortly after his ordination in the Baptist Church he left that tradition and became an Episcopalian. After receiving a M.S. in library science, he spent time at The Free Library of Philadelphia working mostly in adult literacy and outreach services. He has also served as the director of two public libraries in New Jersey. In the late 1980s, he again began to explore ordination. After Anglican Studies and training as a spiritual director at General Theological Seminary, he was ordained a deacon and priest. He has served as the vicar of Trinity “Old Swedes” in Swedesboro, NJ and in a number of interim positions. He is a life professed member of the Third Order, Society of St. Francis and has served as the Formation Director for the Province of the Americas. He is an active spiritual director.

Deacon — Rev. Cathy Brunson, Dcn.: Deacon Catherine Brunson worked for AT&T for twenty-seven years in Human Resources, successfully serving in increasingly responsible management positions in multiple facets of compensation. Catherine returned to her home parish of St. Alban’s Church, New Brunswick, NJ in 1994, where she became a very active member of the congregation.  While enrolled in the Education For Ministry (EFM) program, she discerned God’s call to her to become a Deacon.  After three years training, which included academic studies, an internship at another church as well as Clinical Pastoral Education in a hospital setting, Catherine was ordained to the Diaconate in September 2002 and served at St. Alban’s for four years, served at Trinity Church, Princeton for two years and is currently serving at St. Barnabas Church, Monmouth Junction as a Deacon.

Catherine’s diaconal ministry after ordination has evolved in the area of domestic violence in the city of New Brunswick.  She became a member of the Domestic Violence Awareness Coalition where she has worked to raise awareness of this issue by speaking in various city schools, participating in marches and assisting in the organization of a Sunday service dedicated to Domestic Violence Awareness/Prevention in all churches in New Brunswick.  Catherine’s work in this area continues as a member of the Domestic Violence Response Team where she counsels victims at the New Brunswick police headquarters.  She has served on this team since its inception five years ago.

On the Diocesan level, Catherine has served on the Recovery Ministries committee since its inception and was appointed in 2009 to chair the committee by Bishop Councell.  On the national level, Catherine was elected to the board of Recovery Ministries, Inc. and served as the publication’s chair for one year and then was elected to the executive council where she currently serves as treasurer.   She served on the Commission on Anti-Racism and was a member of the Deacons’ Council.  She also served Province II, composed of the eight Episcopal Dioceses of New York and New Jersey, as a member of the Finger Lakes Conference Board, Geneva, NY.

Office Manager — Kitty Solomita: Kitty Solomita has been the Office Manager at St. Barnabas since October of 2004. She retired from a 30-year career with Bell Labs, AT&T and Lucent Technologies in 2001. A member of Christ the King in Kendall Park for 26 years, Kitty is the Chief Lay Officer for the church, editor of a weekly e-news letter there, head of the email prayer chain, choir member and soloist, offering counter, lector and deacon. After being a “lady of leisure” for several years following her retirement, she saw a notice on a bulletin board at Christ the King for an administrative position at St. Barnabas and applied for it. The rest, as they say, is history! She enjoys the opportunity to foster relationships between the two churches.

Treasurer — Bill Armstrong:

The Vestry: An elective body in an Episcopal parish composed of the rector and a group of elected parishioners administering the temporal affairs of the parish.