The Stories That Make Us: An Intergenerational Gathering of Men

Feliciana Retreat Center
Norwood, Louisian (North of Baton Rouge)

Woven together, stories are the very fabric of our lives.  They tell us from where we came, speak of who we are, and dare to utter what we may become.  There is great power in the telling and retelling of our stories, vast potential for healing, growth and transformation.  Join Fr. Richard Rohr, Belden Lane, and Joel Blunk for a weekend of telling the stories that make us./p>

Our time together will consist of large group presentations, small group discussions, individual-time in nature, sacred ritual and celebration.

Fathers, sons, grandfathers, uncles, cousins and brothers are encouraged to attend solo or together.

We each have a story to tell, a story that unites us with the grand story of being and becoming good and heroic men.

Come ready to:

• Consider archetypal patterns common to all our stories
• Recognize and honor past generations and those yet to come
• Tell your own life story
• Discover that even our wounds and darkest secrets are sacred
• Have an intergenerational experience with fellow journeymen
• Affirm that our story is part of the larger story of the universe

Called to a further journey, we will look within ourselves to see that the wisdom of the elders is not only in our midst, but is within each of us.

Joel Blunk

Serving as an associate pastor of a Presbyterian church in central Pennsylvania for over 15 years, Joel Blunk has found his call tending to the fractures that inhibit healthy human development and community.  His passion is for men’s spirituality, Rites of Passage for youth and young adults, elder teaching, and soul work with veterans, along with the traditional calls of pastoring.  He has been married to Kristen for over 20 years, and they are the parents of three college-age sons.  Joel loves to run, pray and write poetry, sing, and climb trees.

Belden Lane

Belden C. Lane, Ph.D., is a professor in the areas of American religion and spirituality with an interrelation of various faith traditions, in the department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. The relationship of Christian spirituality to the wonder and beauty of the natural world is close to his heart, whether seen in the earth-sensitive practices of Celtic spirituality or Calvin and Edwards' perception of the world as a theater of God's glory in the Reformed tradition.

Belden lives with his wife Patricia, a spiritual director and retired school teacher, in Saint Louis. They have two grown children and a dog who loves hiking in the woods. Belden’s interests include wilderness backpacking in the Ozarks, the magic of storytelling, the history of Desert Spirituality, exposing students to urban poverty through Karen House (the Catholic Worker), and the poetry of Rumi and Wendell Berry. Fascinated with ritual and the process of spiritual transformation, he increasingly finds himself working with men, helping lead initiation rites through Richard Rohr's program for Men as Learners and Elders in Albuquerque as well as the Mankind Project, International.

He is the author of numerous books including The Solace of Fierce Landscapes: Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality (New Paperback Edition) (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Richard Rohr, OFM

An internationally known author and spiritual teacher, Richard Rohr is a Franciscan of the New Mexico province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation. He considers the proclamation of the Gospel to be his primary call and the related themes he addresses include eco-spirituality, scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, peace and justice issues, male spirituality, and the Enneagram. He is a regular contributing writer for Sojourners and Tikkun magazines.

Some of his best-known books include: Everything Belongs; Radical Grace: Daily Meditations; Adam’s Return: The Five Promises of Male Initiation; The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective; From Wild Men to Wise Men: Reflections on Male Spirituality; The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See; and his latest book On The Threshold Of Transformation:  Daily Meditations for Men.

Fr. Richard has been a featured essayist on NPR’s “This I Believe” and a guest of Dr. Mehmet Oz on the “Oprah and Friends” radio show; he also appears in the 2006 documentary, ONE, featuring spiritual teachers from around the world. Check the Mustard Seed Resource Center for all Fr. Richard's works.