Forum on Contemplative Ecology July 8
The integration of nature and spirituality will be the focus at Mepkin Abbey’s Forum on Contemplative Ecology July 8
Victoria Loorz will be the guest at the July session in a new series on contemplative ecology. This monthly series features virtual interviews with leaders in the field conducted by Sam C. King, educator, writer and contemplative ecologist.
Victoria Loorz, MDiv, is a “wild church pastor,” of several transformation-focused organizations focused on the integration of nature and spirituality. She feels most alive when collaborating with Mystery and kindred spirits too create opportunities for people to re-member themselves back into intimate, sacred relationship with the rest of the living world.
These public is invited to join these sessions via Zoom at 7 p.m. the first Monday of each month. There is no cost to participate.
Click Here to sign up or email mepkinguestmaster@gmail.com for more information.
“First, we learn to be kinder to the natural world around us. God gave humans a special place in his universal order, but the gift of the human intellect is to exercise our God-given dominion not as power to Lord it over creation, but rather to be stewards and lovers of that creation — of God’s glory written into each member and life process that belongs to the living community of creation all around us.”
Kyle Berceau, Br. Roman Paul, in his essay “Ripe Reflections”
This forum was launched to honor Kyle Berceau, Br. Roman Paul. Kyle Berceau entered the monastic life at Mepkin Abbey in 2022, eventually taking the name Br. Roman Paul. He brought with him a heart for ecology and the environment. He successfully survived a liver transplant only to be diagnosed with incurable lung cancer. He died at 33 years of life experience on March 5, 2024.
In April of 2023, Br. Kyle shared his dream: “What would you think of brainstorming together some kind of environmental symposium for the future? I would love to see where your heart is in relation to this general idea. My heart is especially there in bringing exposure to a permaculture mindset here. Perhaps at some point having a bigger symposium for how we could establish ourselves as a leader in the process of environmental transformation.”
St. Francis Retreat Center at Mepkin Abbey has engaged Sam C. King to help our efforts to make Kyle’s dream a reality.
After twenty years as a pastor of indoor churches, Victoria Loorz launched the first Church of the Wild, in Ojai CA and began to meet others with the same sense of call to leave building and expand the Beloved Community beyond our own species. She then co-founded the ecumenical Wild Church Network.
Victoria is co-founder and director of Seminary of the Wild, which is focused on a deep-dive yearlong Eco-Ministry Certificate program for all those who feel called by Earth and Spirit to “restore the great conversation.” (Thomas Berry)
She now calls Bellingham, Washington her home, a beautiful land along the Salish Sea on territory tended and loved for generations by the Coast Salish peoples, in particular the Nooksack and Lummi nations.
Victoria’s young adult children — Alec and Olivia — are wise, creative, tender souls, dedicated to creating a more inclusive, compassionate, and just world.
Sam C. King is an educator, writer, speaker, and contemplative ecologist. As Director of Integral Ecology for the Marist Brothers USA, he works with youth leaders across the country to promote hopeful collective action to address climate change, species loss, pollution, and environmental injustice. He also serves as Research Associate for the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and Project Manager for the Emmy Award-winning Journey of the Universe film and multimedia project, curating a monthly newsletter and hosting a podcast where he speaks with scientists, artists, religious leaders, and environmentalists.
Sam earned a Master of Arts in Religion and Ecology from Yale Divinity School and served as a Teaching Fellow at the School of the Environment. He has also worked with Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim to create six online courses on the ecological wisdom of the world’s religions, available through Yale/Coursera.
An avid gardener, forager, and outdoorsman, Sam lives on ancestral Quinnipiac land in New Haven, CT.
