Kerney, LeRoy G.

LeRoy George Kerney, professional chaplain and clinical pastoral educator, was born in LaPorte City, Iowa in 1923. The son of an Evangelical United Brethren minister, Kerney was ordained an Elder of the Iowa Conference of the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1948. He served EUB parishes in Illinois, before joining the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. He received the B.A. from Westmar College in 1945, the B.D. from the Evangelical Theological Seminary in 1947, and the M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 1963. He completed clinical pastoral training in the late 1940.

Kerney began his career as a professional chaplain at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in 1948. From 1949-1955, he was Protestant Chaplain at Manteno State Hospital. In 1955, he became Professor of Pastoral Care at the Texas Medical Center's Institute of Religion in Houston. He remained there until August 1963, when he returned to the Washington, D.C. area as Supervisory Chaplain at the Clinical Center, National Institute of Health. Kerney retired from the Clinical Center in 1988.

Kerney was a founding member of the American Protestant Hospital Association's College of Chaplains, serving as the College's President in 1971. In 1988 he received that organization's Distinguished Service Award and delivered the annual Russell Dicks Memorial Lecture. Kerney also belonged to the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and supervised clinical pastoral education for students at Manteno State Hospital, the Institute for Religion, and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. He taught courses at several institutions, including the Institute of Religion, Houston; McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago; and George Washington University, Washington, D.C. He was a member of the National Capital Presbytery and served on its Committee on Specialized Ministries.