Putting Contemplation into Action

Have you ever wanted to see behind the scenes at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC)? Who are the people that move the mission forward? What is their day-to-day like? How do they embody the wisdom they share with the world?  

Susan Hines-Brigger, Executive Editor of St. Anthony’s Messenger, published by Franciscan Media, recently toured CAC to give readers a deeper understanding of this educational nonprofit whose mission is to introduce spiritual seekers to the Christian contemplative path of transformation. 

“I think our world needs healing right now. We need people who come and say, ‘My only concern is how can I serve love?’ It’s not about being right. It’s not about winning power. It’s about being an agent of healing. And when we adopt that as our task, we can’t lose.” —Michael Poffenberger, CAC Executive Director 

Hines-Brigger interviewed Fr. Richard Rohr and many staff members, including Michael Petrow, part of CAC’s Living School. “There are contemplative practices that have always been part of the Christian Church,” Petrow says in the article. “But they’ve been tucked away in the back of dusty libraries; they’ve been inside monasteries, and there’s opportunity for ordinary people to access that. It’s giving people access to a very old and simultaneously very new vibrant spirituality that is life changing.”