Our Teachers and Leaders

The Contemplative Society is blessed with a diverse circle of teachers, leaders, and companions, founding voices, guest teachers, and regional guides, who carry forward the Christian Wisdom tradition with dedication, creativity, and care.

Cynthia Bourgeault

Our Founding Teacher

The Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally recognized retreat leader. She divides her time between the quiet of her seaside hermitage in Maine and guiding a worldwide community of students and practitioners.

Cynthia’s signature contributions to the Christian contemplative renewal span four key areas:

Centering Prayer
The Christian Wisdom Tradition
The Western Esoteric and Fourth Way teachings
The Path of Conscious Love

Over the course of her ministry, she has worked alongside influential teachers such as Thomas Keating, Bruno Barnhart, and Richard Rohr, and she serves as emeritus faculty of the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation. A frequent participant in interspiritual dialogues, she has shared conversation and collaboration with luminaries including A.H. Almaas, Kabir Helminski, Swami Atmarupananda, and Rami Shapiro.

Coming Soon: The Cynthia Bourgeault Archive from TCS

Books

Courses

Website

Our Guest Teachers

These gifted contemplative teachers have led and continue to lead our retreats and programs for TCS, carrying the Christian Wisdom tradition forward with depth, clarity, and devotion.

Heather Ruce

Heather Ruce, MA, is a Wisdom spiritual director companioning individuals and facilitating practice circles, groups, retreats, and Wisdom schools focused on learning and living the Christian Wisdom Tradition. She integrates contemplation and embodiment through Centering Prayer, Christian meditation, sacred chanting, lectio divina, and sacred gestures in the service of waking up and putting on the Mind of Christ. Heather’s formation has been shaped by teachers, including Cynthia Bourgeault in the Christian Wisdom Tradition, Deborah Rose Longo in sacred movement, and Steve Hoskinson in trauma healing and complexity science through Organic Intelligence.

James Finley

James Finley, PhD, is a contemplative practitioner, student of Thomas Merton, and clinical psychologist. He leads retreats teaching how connecting to our Divine indwelling can transcend fear and shame and awaken to our True Self. Drawing from his experience as a former monk and spiritual directee of Thomas Merton, Jim offers trustworthy guidance for the spiritual journey.

A faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), he is the author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere and The Contemplative Heart, and the host of CAC’s podcast “Turning to the Mystics”.

Matthew Wright

The Rev. Matthew Wright is an Episcopal priest, a brilliant teacher, and a gifted retreat leader, nurtured in the Christian contemplative Wisdom tradition by Cynthia Bourgeault herself. His primary interest is Wisdom: not knowing more, but knowing more deeply, fundamentally by the Way of the Heart. Matthew teaches that the heart is not only the seat of emotions, but the primary organ of spiritual perception, and he works to cultivate this mode of seeing. His contemplative practice is also informed by the Mevlevi Order of Sufism through the teachings of Camille and Kabir Helminski.

Matthew lives on the grounds of the Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY.

Our Regional Leaders and Teachers

Our Regional Leaders and Teachers are rooted in Canada and actively engaged in nurturing contemplative practice within their local communities. They carry forward the Wisdom tradition through retreats, teaching, and ongoing support for our Society's network of practitioners.

Therese DesCamp

Therese DesCamp has a deep longing to encounter the Holy as expressed through the being-ness of creation. She lives this out here in the Kootenays through her long-term practice of meditation and prayer, as well as through her life as a spouse, writer, spiritual director, minister and recovering alcoholic. She is committed to the work of The Contemplative Society in part because of the profound wisdom she has found in the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault; but also because she believes in The Contemplative Society’s capacity to offer training, support and community to those who are “holding the post” in our wide-flung communities. Therese was recently long-listed for the 2023 CBC Nonfiction Award. See more at widespot.ca. Therese is a teacher of Christian contemplative Wisdom working in the lineage of Cynthia Bourgeault and within the active collegial and mentoring network of that lineage.

Lorie Martin

Rev. Lorie Martin is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and clergy in the Anglican Church of Canada. She is passionate about “soul work” and highly values contemplative practices, creating sacred spaces, and gathering together in community. Lorie is a director of The Centre for Spiritual Renewal, located in Langley, Aldergrove, and Chilliwack, BC. She and her husband, Dwight, raised 5 children and now live at Lindell Beach near the water in the woods, and enjoy their grandchildren, hiking, and paddling in their kayaks. Lorie is a teacher of Christian contemplative Wisdom working in the lineage of Cynthia Bourgeault and within the active collegial and mentoring network of that lineage.

Paula Pryce

Dr. Paula Pryce is a cultural anthropologist whose research explores silence, ritual, and contemplative traditions across cultures. She is the author of The Monk’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2018) and teaches anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Paula grew up in an inter-religious contemplative household and has studied and practiced meditation since childhood, shaping her lifelong commitment to Wisdom work.

She lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband and daughters, and continues to write, teach, and guide others in discovering the transformative power of ritual and contemplative practice.

Jennifer England

Jennifer England is a leadership coach, facilitator, and long-time contemplative practitioner. She is the founder of the Wisdom North Collective, a meditation circle rooted in the Christian Wisdom tradition, and is also part of the Two Arrows Zen Sangha. With over two decades of executive leadership experience in government and non-profits, Jennifer now supports senior leaders and teams through her practice, Spark Coaching + Consulting, and hosts the Tension of Emergence podcast.

Based in Whitehorse, Yukon, she is also a mother of two and a committed backcountry adventurer, weaving her love of the land with her dedication to Wisdom practice and systems change.

Henri Lock

Henri Lock served for nearly three decades as United Church chaplain at the University of Victoria, where he became known for creating inclusive, contemplative spaces for students of all faiths and none. A meditation teacher and retreat leader, he has a special gift for mentoring and supporting the next generation of contemplatives.

Henri was born in Holland, grew up in Canada, and, with his wife Leslie, has long been rooted in Victoria, BC where he served for many years as the president of The Contemplative Society.