How Do We Find Hope in Hard Times?
This event will be recorded. All who register by Thursday, March 12, will receive access to the replay for one full year.
“During disorder and need, how do we sustain communal peace and compassionate activity?”
—Carmen Acevedo Butcher
Event Details
At this live 90-minute online gathering, CAC staff member Drew Jackson, CAC Dean of Faculty Carmen Acevedo Butcher, and guests Cole Arthur Riley and Jon Batiste will guide attendees through teachings and practices for finding hope amid personal loss, social unrest, and collective uncertainty.
Whether you join live or watch the replay, you’ll uncover a contemplative approach to daily living that helps you tap into the deep well of God’s grace that sustains us all.
Participants will need a device with reliable Internet access, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer to access Zoom.
Registration
Registration for this event is open from Wednesday, January 28 to Thursday, March 12, 2026. This event will be recorded. All who register by March 12, will have access to the replay for one full year. Replay access will be emailed within one week of the event.
Cost
The standard cost for this event is $95. While this price reflects the true cost of creating and offering this event, we are committed to reducing financial barriers to participation. That’s why we’re offering additional price levels — $30, $10, and $5 — so you can choose the one that best aligns with your current financial circumstances.
These reduced options are made possible by the generosity of our donor community, who help ensure that seekers from all walks of life can engage the wisdom that calls us toward healing, wholeness, and deepening love.
“After the CAC event, I moved toward a spirituality I had been seeking all my life.”
—Kelly B., CAC Community Member
Featured Teachers
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D.
CAC Dean of Core Faculty
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, poet, and translator of spiritual texts — she has translated the books The Cloud of Unknowing and Practice of the Presence. Carmen teaches at UC Berkeley, focusing on language evolution and inclusive communication. Her work highlights the power of words and the connection between personal and global healing.
Learn more.
Cole Arthur Riley
Guest Teacher
Cole Arthur Riley is writer, poet, and author of the instant New York Times bestsellers This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us (Penguin Random House, 2023) and Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for Staying Human (Penguin Random House, 2024). Arthur Riley is also the creator of Black Liturgies, a space that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body; and a project of The Center for Dignity and Contemplation where she serves as Curator. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. Arthur Riley lives in Ithaca, NY.
Learn more.
Jon Batiste
Guest Teacher
Jon Batiste is an eight-time GRAMMY and Academy Award–winning singer, songwriter, and composer whose work blends gospel, soul, blues, folk, and rock. His album BIG MONEY won the GRAMMY for Best Americana Album following the chart-topping Beethoven Blues and the five-time-nominated World Music Radio. His breakthrough album We Are earned Album of the Year and four additional GRAMMYs. Batiste also won an Oscar for Pixar’s Soul, led The Late Show with Stephen Colbert band for seven years, and is featured in the Netflix documentary American Symphony, including the Oscar-nominated song “It Never Went Away.”
Learn more.
CAC encourages authentic conversation in our various online experiences. We expect all participants to abide by our community and conversation guidelines.
We hope you’ll join us to explore how hope can be cultivated honestly, without bypassing grief or injustice, and how it can ground us in resilience and resistance.
Event details are subject to change. If you have any questions, contact our Community Support team.
Frequently Asked Questions
Participants will need a device with reliable internet access, such as a smartphone, tablet, or computer to access Zoom.
Even if you are unable to join live, we recommend registering for the event, as all registrants will receive access to the online gathering recording for one full year.
Online gathering recordings will be sent to all registrants via email the week following the online gathering. Event recordings are available to view for one calendar year from the event date.
To cancel your online gathering registration and request a refund, please send your request to our Community Support Team. Requests must be received before March 12, 2026.
Registrations for the online gatherings are individual registrations. We ask that you do not share event access outside of individual or household viewing.