If we want to tackle the many crises before us, we must invite God to change our thoughts and our words, but we must also invite God to change our hearts and our habits. Injustice, sin, and oppression are more than concepts: they influence our emotional landscapes; they shape the very ways that we act and move through the world. Lectio visceralis roots conversations about race, class, gender, and healing in the body; it uses movement, creativity, talk, and reflection to deepen compassion and commitment. It stimulates planning and action.
Lectio visceralis is a unique form of reflection that combines Ignatian discernment with the artistry and analysis of “Theatre of the Oppressed.” This kind of lectio engages both the quiet and the talkative; both elders and young adults; both the verbally articulate and those who’d rather communicate through movement and bodily feel. It roots prayer in the mind, heart, and body. To learn more about lectio visceralis, click here.
Check out the following programs of embodied reflection
for the 2022-2023 season.
Each workshop, series, or prayer session combines lectio visceralis with the insights of liberation-minded theologians, to create spaces for learning, sharing, and deeper connection.
Online or In-Person
How is the Spirit calling you to learn, to pray, and to act?
Each experience can be customized to your congregation or setting as: a 75 minute interactive online prayer service, a 2-4 hour stand-alone workshop, or a 4-6 part workshop series.
Also available as seasonal ecumenical workshops. Click here for a calendar of events.
Creation: Lament, Celebration, and Action. From climate doomism to local response.
Remembrance: Loss, Grief, and Healing. Beyond “closure,” toward healing, through prayer.
Advent: Peace on Earth - and at Christmas Dinner. Talking across serious differences: psychology, spirituality, and skills.
Epiphany: Pain, Hope, and Prayer. Undoing racism through learning, listening, and ritual.
Lent: Speaking Out Loud on the Road to Jerusalem. Rediscovering the Christian virtue of parrhesia ("telling it like it is").
Pentecost: Difference and Unity. Microaggressions, diversity, honoring ancestors.
Season of Pride: Queer Spirituality and Christian Vocation for Everyone. Gender and sexuality as call to discernment.
A Month of Women Saints: Drawing Inspiration from Powerful Women in Scripture and in Christian History. With a focus on seasonal “saints.”
Online or In-Person
Where is the Spirit calling us? What’s getting in the way? What is our group's next step forward?
Available as a 4 hour workshop, a day long experience, or one-and-a-half day event.
A facilitated process of discernment and action, including in-depth consultation with parish leaders. Lectio visceralis prayers and exercises focus on the “Circle of Discernment” (listening with our hearts, analyzing with our minds, remembering and imagining with our souls, planning and acting with our strength). The goal is to understand the power dynamics within and beyond the congregation, turning potential partners into actual allies.
In-Person
Ministry, challenges, grace: What is the Spirit trying to tell you - through your body?
Available in same-gender or mixed-gender formats.
Using the tools of lectio visceralis, we will make space for you to listen more deeply to the wisdom of your body. Learn to work with your own longings and frustrations; reflect on priestly leadership, power, and local politics; all in a spirit of shared honesty and mutual support.