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Center for Action and Contemplation

Listening with Astonishment: Welcoming Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher as CAC’s Next Dean of Faculty

December 15th, 2025
Leadership within the contemplative tradition has always unfolded through listening — listening to the Spirit, to one another, and to what Love is asking of us next. In that spirit, the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) is honored to welcome Dr. Carmen Acevedo Butcher as our next Dean of Faculty, unanimously

Brother Lawrence’s Spiritual Guidance| Season 12 Wrap-Up of Turning to the Mystics

In Season 12 of Turning to the Mystics, explore the timeless wisdom of Brother Lawrence, guided by our hosts, James Finley and Kristen Oates. Through each episode, embark on a journey through Brother Lawrence’s book Practice of the Presence, which was translated by CAC Core Faculty member Carmen Acevedo

Guigo II | Season 4 Wrap-Up of “Turning to the Mystics”

In Season 4 of Turning to the Mystics, James Finley and Kirsten Oates introduce listeners to Carthusian monk Guigo II, discovering the roots of contemplative practice with Guigo’s work on The Ladder of Monks. Throughout this season, listeners will work with the text and explore the foundations of contemplation

A Gospel Embrace: Contemplation and Nonviolent Resistance

November 27th, 2025
Jesus was a singular figure in history—a teacher, prophet, and embodiment of the Divine. He offered a path to individual salvation through grace and prayer, a way represented today by the contemplative stream of Christianity. But he also offered something more dangerous: a revolutionary program of nonviolent

Dismantling Your Inner Empire

November 27th, 2025
We are seeing the rotten fruit of the American Empire on full display—ICE raids, kidnappings, rights stripped away, unlawful redistricting—while the fragile foundations of democracy crack and fall apart.  John Dominic Crossan, in God & Empire, names the four cornerstones of empire as political, economic

The Way of the Desert

November 27th, 2025
The ancient path of the desert mystics invites us to disrupt the patterns of ego and empire through the courageous pursuit of inner liberation. Throughout Christian history, mystics and spiritual seekers have led radical movements of departure, leaving behind the ways of the world for the desert in search of union

Grace Happens When We Let It

November 27th, 2025
At the root of war is fear; not so much the fear that men [sic] have of one another as the fear they have of everything. It is not that they do not trust one another; they do not even trust themselves. ― Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation  It’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me. ― Taylor

Honra y Dignidad

November 27th, 2025
When I first heard of Don Félix, it wasn’t through a neighbor or a church. It was on the evening news. They called him “el perro del junker”—the dog of the junkyard—because that’s where he lived, in a small Puerto Rican apartment beside a car lot, watching over it so nothing would get stolen. The story

We Conspire: Creating Communities Where Everything Belongs

November 21st, 2025
We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.  SUBSCRIBE TODAY Letting Go for the Sake of Justice Learn how

Letting Go for the Sake of Justice

November 21st, 2025
We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month.  SUBSCRIBE TODAY What if letting go could become our deepest act

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