Awakening the Wisdom of the Heart: Protecting and Caring for Earth's Community of Life. Joined by faith and spiritual leaders, ecological advocates and others based in the Charleston area, the group convened for two days at the Lance Hall of the historic Circular Congregational Church in downtown Charleston.

Our two days together focused on ways to engage the local community to respond to the urgent need to protect and care for the Earth's ecosystems and to create a more equitable and caring human society.  Ecology was a central theme at this gathering.  Many residents of Charleston, a revitalizing city, expressed deep concern over the rising seas in the wake of climactic shifts, which now makes the Charleston population and the city's structures vulnerable to severe flooding.  Some in attendance, like Dana Beach of the Coastal Conservation League, spoke of their untiring work to raise awareness of the issue and create ecologically sound responses.

The Alliance was invited to Charleston by Carolyn Rivers, Founder and Director of the Sophia Institute; Carolyn has been a member of the Alliance since its inception at the Aspen Institute campus in 2008.  The Charleston dialogue comprised a mixture of the faith-based traditions present in the Low Country and Upstate of South Carolina today.  Some of the spiritual leaders and thought leaders in attendance: The Honorable Rev. Jeremy Rutledge, Senior Minister of the Circular Congregational Church, where the Contemplative Alliance gathering was held and the Honorable Bert Keller, Retired Senior Minister there; The Honorable Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Jane Jabbor from Dances of Universal Peace, as well as representatives from the Charleston Buddhist Fellowship, the Unity Church, a student member of the Islam in Religious life Council at the College of Charleston, and the Charleston Sanatan Temple & Cultural Center.  We opened and closed each day with an honoring to the sacredness of the land with Native American flute by Kathie Corley (Ceranthe).

The Contemplative Alliance also made a special site visit outside of the city to Moncks Corner, to get a visceral perspective of the emotional and raw history of the south, which contains the memory of both the Native American and African American narratives of the not so distant past.  Mepkin Abbey, a Cistercian Trappist monastery in Moncks Corner opened its contemplative doors.  The Alliance had a special seating and conversation with the Abbott and resident monks on the perspectives of an enriched contemplative life.  Our tour and visit was graciously facilitated by Father Guerric Heckel.  On departure from the monastery, members of the Alliance offered a deeply moving and reflective prayer of acknowledgment and honoring to the ancestors of the land, which is the site of a former planation of once enslaved Africans in the 1700s.  The roots of Mepkin Abbey began at a Trappist monastery in Normandy in 1664; they now have a thriving residence open for retreat to the lay and monastic community.

The two day program concluded with a special public talk - "COMPASSION: THE GLUE OF SOCIETY, THE HEART OF THE SOUL" - by Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister, Founder of Benetvision and Co-Chair of GPIW.  Sr. Joan spoke resoundingly to the 200 person audience on the importance of learning to cultivate the interior life for the collective wellbeing, not merely personal betterment or happiness-a "spiritual Jacuzzi" she gently cautioned to be wary of.  We were honored to offer this rare, intimate time that included a Q&A between Sr. Joan and the Charleston community.