Items
S01-I02: "The Four Quadrants of Benedictine Life", Cynthia Bourgeault (1994)
S01-I03: "Recap: Cynthia Bourgeault Project", Parish Mission Initiatives Day, Anglican Parishes on Salt Spring Island (June 1997)
S01-I04: "Signatures from the first five directors of The Contemplative Society", The Contemplative Society Constitution, (August 1997)
S01-I05: "Fairacres Realtor Listing", The Original Contemplative Centre, Gulf Islands Realty Ltd., [ca. 1997]
S01-I06: "Present and Future Directions for The Contemplative Society", Cynthia Bourgeault and TCS Board (1998 June)
S01-I07: "Audio Tapes Available from The Contemplative Society", [ca. 1999]
S01-I08: "What is a Reatreat Centre?", Cynthia Bougeault, (1999 January)
S01-I09: "A Summary of The Contemplative Society and its Mission", (1999 August 17)
S01-I10: "Publicity Brochure", The Contemplative Society (c. 2000)
S01-I11: "What Does a Hermit Do All Day?" Cynthia Bourgeault, (2003 January)
S01-I12: "A Brief History", The Contemplative Society Letter, (2004 February)
S01-I13: "Vision and Mission of The Contemplative Society", [ca. 2006]
S01-I14: "Reading List from Cynthia Bourgeault", [ca. 2007]
S01-I15: The Contemplative Society's 20th Anniversary Interview with Cynthia Bourgeault by Michael Flynn (2017)
S01-I16: 20th Anniversary President Talk, Heather Page, (2018 May 5, edited 2025 December)
S01-I17: 20th Anniversary Invitation Post-Card, (2018 May)
S01-I18: Reflection on meeting Cynthia Bourgeault, Mary-Clare Carder, (2026 March)
S01-I19: List of past board members, source: Pat Manning, [Unknown Date]
From Hermitage Roots to a Living Society
Margaret Haines and Fr. Thomas Keating, 2007
The Contemplative Society traces its origins to the vision of Margaret Haines, a Salt Spring Island resident, Tibetan Buddhist practitioner, and devoted student of Centering Prayer. As a member of the local Anglican parish, then in the process of amalgamating into All Saints by the Sea, Margaret longed to root this new community in a living contemplative stream. She hoped to invite Fr. Thomas Keating to Salt Spring for the opening of the new parish church, but when travel was no longer possible for him, he suggested that a former student and emerging teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, be invited instead. In 1994, Cynthia came to Salt Spring, where a small Centering Prayer circle was already meeting under Margaret’s care, and the seeds of a deeper relationship were planted.​
"Faireacres", The Original Contemplative Centre on Salt Spring Island, Source: Heather Page
Cynthia was welcomed to Salt Spring initially due to her capacity as a scholar of medieval liturgical drama. After All Saints' inauguration, the parish invited her back to direct “The Play of Creation,” a fourteenth‑century drama, as part of their new festival life, and then again in May–June 1996 for an extended residency. During that initial residency, she both directed a modern liturgical drama she had written, “The Voyage of Saint Brendan to the Promised Land of the Saints,” and quietly began offering Centering Prayer teaching alongside the parish’s existing contemplative life. As Margaret and others recognized both her depth of practice and her vocational calling, the possibility arose for Cynthia to serve as hermit‑in‑residence for All Saints by the Sea. When the parish ultimately discerned that it could not fund such a position, a new path forward emerged through the support of Bishop Barry Jenks. With his encouragement, the group secured a seed grant from the Anglican Foundation, allowing Margaret Haines and Sandy Gordon to gather a small group, form a society, and resolve to support Cynthia’s presence themselves.
That new society soon took the name The Contemplative Society. From the beginning, the arrangement wove together multiple strands: Cynthia living as a hermit, assisting the parish as needed, teaching centering prayer and leading retreats to sustain the work financially. Existing contemplative structures (a regular eight‑day retreat at the Society of St. Anne in Sooke and an active Centering Prayer group) gave her an immediate context in which to teach and experiment. Supported by the community, she began to articulate what would become the Wisdom School model, and by July 1999, at "Fairacres" (then known as the Contemplative Centre, a parishioner’s unused property on Salt Spring Island), the first-ever Wisdom School was hosted. In this convergence of a small island parish, Margaret’s vision, and Cynthia’s emerging Wisdom teaching, The Contemplative Society was truly born.​
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"Glenna Teidje and her boots" September 2002, Fall Glenairley Retreat: The Cloud of Unknowing, East Sooke BC, source: Mary-Clare Carder
Those early retreats continue to reverberate in the life of The Contemplative Society today. What began as a small island community supporting a hermit‑in‑residence, gathering for largely silent retreats and experimental Wisdom Schools, has matured into an ongoing commitment to contemplative practice, teaching, and hospitality that now reaches far beyond Salt Spring Island. The same impulse that led a handful of parishioners to form a society so Cynthia could live, teach, and pray among them still animates today’s programs, partnerships, and online offerings.​
Seen from this vantage point, the early retreats are not just a charming preface but the DNA of the Society’s current work. The rhythms of silence and chant, the integration of Centering Prayer with liturgy and sacred drama, and the willingness to risk new forms of Wisdom teaching all continue to shape how the Society discerns teachers, curates retreats, and now stewards this digital archive. As new voices join the lineage and the work takes fresh forms, the community still moves in continuity with those first gatherings: a small circle, listening deeply for the Wisdom that wants to emerge for this time.​
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Sincerely, ​
Nicholas Fournie
Your Archival Administrator
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Registered charity: 878177161RR0001
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The Contemplative Society
PO Box 23031, Cook St RPO
Victoria, BC V8V 4Z8
Canada
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Telephone: +1.250.381.9650
E-mail: admin@contemplative.org