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
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, facilitates Wisdom practice circles, groups, retreats, and schools. She offers teaching and guidance in various embodied Wisdom, contemplative and mindfulness practices including Centering Prayer, Christian meditation, sacred chanting, lectio divina, conscious work, Gurdjieff Exercises and Movements in service of seeing through the heart. Her approach is especially informed by her Masters education in family systems therapy and depth psychology and the teachings of Cynthia Bourgeault in the Christian Wisdom Tradition, Deborah Rose Longo in sacred movements, and Steve Hoskinson in the integration of trauma healing and complexity science through his model Organic Intelligence. Find out more about her at heatherruce.com
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. Her publications include The Monk’s Cell: Ritual and Knowledge in American Contemplative Christianity. Having been raised in an interreligious household, Paula has studied and practiced meditation and other contemplative rites since childhood. She lives in Vancouver BC, where she leads retreats, facilitates contemplative prayer groups, and writes in a variety of genres. Paula regularly contributes reflections to The Contemplative Society website.
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.