Tom Porter Retirement Celebration

CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE AND JUSTPEACEMAKING: TOM PORTER IN CONVERSATION WITH DAVID JAFFE, BOB STAINS, AND JOAN MURRAY

Thursday, May 2, 2019
BU Hillel, 213 Bay State Road, Boston, MA
5pm with reception following

Join us for a celebration of Tom’s contributions in Conflict Transformation at Boston University School of Theology (2004-2019). This event is free and open to the public.

Rabbi David Jaffe is the Principal and Founder of Kirva Consulting, which makes Jewish spiritual wisdom accessible to leaders, change-makers and seekers to build healthy, sustainable communities, organizations and relationships. David’s current focus is the Inside Out Wisdom and Action Project, which helps social change leaders integrate applied Jewish ethics and applied Jewish mysticism to the work of social justice. He is the author of Changing the World from the Inside Out: A Jewish Approach to Personal and Social Change, winner of the National Jewish Book Award.

Bob Stains maintains a private conflict transformation practice in Danvers, MA, serving organizations in the US and around the globe. He is a Senior Associate at Essential Partners, and for 23 years has created constructive conversations on sexual orientation, religion, race, abortion, social class, gender, firearms and other divisive issues within and between local, national and international organizations. Bob is a co-founder of The Family Dinner Project, and was a consultant to the Interpersonal Skills Component of the Harvard Negotiation Project at Harvard Law School for 16 years.

Since 2002 Joan has been a pastor, chaplain, and spiritual companion with people outside and those marginally housed. Her first call to ordained ministry was to Ecclesia Ministries, where she served as Minister of common cathedral, the outdoor church, combining un-housed and housed people in worship every Sunday, year round on Boston Common. In addition to weekly worship leadership and preaching, she was responsible for all aspects of this Boston ministry including fund-raising, administration, programs, pastoral care and the recruitment and supervision of field education students and volunteers.

Joan left common cathedral in August 2007 and founded Chaplains on the Way, an on-going community chaplaincy in Waltham, the following year. Chaplains on the Way provides a ministry of presence and spiritual care with poor and homeless people on the street and at programs such as the Waltham Community Day Center, the Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen and the Bristol Lodge Shelters. Their ministries also include a weekly meditation group and a monthly labyrinth walk.

Retired since 2014, Joan continues to provide spiritual and pastoral care to individuals experiencing homelessness, as a volunteer at The Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Paul with their MANNA programs and as a volunteer with the Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP). ISP provides free weekend retreats for homeless and formerly homeless men and women in recovery.

Joan received her M.Div. degree at Episcopal Divinity School in 2000 and has completed 4 units of CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Westborough State Hospital, as well as a Practicum in Spiritual Direction at the Center for Religious Development (CRD). She was ordained in 2002 by the United Church of Christ (UCC) at Wellesley Congregational Church, where she has been a member now for over 40 years. In 2018 she completed the two-year Living School program offered by the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM.

Read the article about Tom’s retirement. Register to attend below.

Donate to the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at www.bu.edu/rctfund.

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