The Pulse is a monthly newsletter with updates on recent work from Illuman's governing bodies, operations councils, and local chapters. You can also find it on the Council Leaders Corner of the Illuman website (password: councils2022).
Please submit your Council's monthly report via this form.
Dear Illuman Leaders,
The work of Illuman includes, of course, the deep inner, spiritual work that we each do in our Rites of Passage, at our many local and online events, and together in Council or Cohort groups. At the same time, the work of Illuman is also manifest in the numerous ways we serve in our chapters and leadership councils. This work of service (Illuman's Fifth Touchstone!) is often less appealing than the inner work that drew us to Illuman in the first place, and yet it is no less important and no less spiritual. Indeed, it is often in midst of active, passion-driven service to others (even, or, perhaps, especially when such service feels tiresome or tedious) that we begin to glimpse the mystery of incarnation - that intersection of the embodied and the divine within each of us. To paraphrase the Apostle James, just as the body without the spirit is dead, so inner work without outward service is dead.
And so I honor the labors of love that have gone into this month's council meetings. They are an integral part of your own spiritual journeys as much as they are essential contributions to the life of Illuman. The reports below capture just a snapshot of what you have each invested in this vital work. My hope is that these brief summaries will enhance your ongoing efforts by keeping you more informed about the broader work of Illuman. We are, together – chapters, operations councils, and governing bodies, along with the men we serve – the whole body of Illuman, and each is better equipped by knowing what all the other parts are also working on.
With Gratitude,
Mike Clawson
Illuman Administrator
P.S. - We would love to know what is happening not just on the national level but among our local chapters as well. Chapter leaders, please feel free submit reports for the goings on in your chapters via this form.
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- Board of Directors
- Chapter Development Council
- Communications Council
- Curricula Council
- Governance Council
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Illuman en Español
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- Illuman of the Ozarks
- Program Council
- Technology Council
- Virtual Council Guiding Circle
- Wisdom Elders
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Charters, responsibilities, and contacts for each of Illuman's Operations Councils can be found here.
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Board of Directors - September 15, 2022
Contact: board@illuman.org
At our September meeting the Board focused most of its attention on the need to find a co-chair to assist Steve Hicken in the role. If one is not found, Steve has indicated that he will need to step down as Chair at the end of this year, as the role is no longer sustainable for one person to manage on their own. After a nomination process that turned up six potential co-chair candidates, none of the candidates opted to continue in the process, perhaps highlighting the demands of the position and the fact that it has moved beyond the ability of volunteers to handle alone. The need for a paid Executive Director to lighten this load was discussed. Funding such a position would require more than doubling our current level of donor income (from ~$75,000/year to over $150,000/year). Several possible options for resolving this dilemma were floated (including another round of nominations and/or a possible town hall meeting to generate awareness around the need) and a working sub-committee of the Board met to determine next steps.
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Chapter Development Council - September 7, 2022
Contact: cdc@illuman.org
- The Chapter Development Council (CDC) and the Illuman Board of Directors are planning a joint lunch meeting at Soularize.
- There will be a table at Soularize for host chapters to promote their upcoming MROPs.
- The chapter mentoring process has been announced and sent to conveners. So far two conveners have been paired with mentors: Steve Moore of the Alabama Emerging Region and Chris Cameron of the newly incorporated Illuman of Wisconsin Chapter. There are additional mentors available for any other conveners who wish to participate in this program.
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Council prompts from chapters and virtual council will be organized over time and made available on the Chapter Resources page at the Illuman web site (password: conveners2022).
- It was suggested that the CDC and the Reweaving Council collaborate on a follow-up to the interviews with Chapters completed previously. The Reweaving Council is still getting organized, but has created a 5 member steering committee to present agendas to the larger group, including CDC representative Tim Callan.
- The communication between CDC member Arturo Diaz and Board Chair Steve Hicken about Illuman priorities to assist chapters has been shared with the conveners. Conversations about collaboration are continuing between the CO, NM, and AZ chapters as well as between the East Coast chapters led by Illuman DC.
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Communications Council - September 26, 2022
Contact: communications@illuman.org
- We welcomed five new men to the Communications Council.
- At the invitation of the CAC, we are preparing an article for their CAC Conspire newsletter. This will be delivered to the CAC in November for release thereafter.
- We are completing copy for a social media policy to guide behavior on our internal Facebook page and other media platforms. This is expected to release end of October.
- We are curating existing council prompts from any existing sources. This involves topically tagging prompts and preparing for deployment through our new online system, expected in early 2023.
- We are completing edit reviews of a suggested "Conversation Guide" that will assist men in having better conversations with non-Illuman men. This is expected to release in October.
- We are collaborating with Wisdom Elders to prepare both internal and external communications re: Fr. Richard Rohr's health announcement, timing TBD.
- We are planning and preparing to launch a weekly "Men's Meditation Email Series" starting January 2023. This will be similar to CAC daily meditation emails, but focused on topics relevant to men.
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We are building out a proposed Illuman "language inventory" — suggested core words, phrases, and related language, for communicating with "external audiences". This is to provide alternatives to existing "internal" focused language about Illuman. Inputs to this are being acquired from any and all sources. We will start testing and vetting this content after Soularize.
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Curricula Council - September 12, 2022
Contact: curricula@illuman.org
The Curricula Council opened with an in-depth Council on “Soul Initiation” followed by a discussion of programs. There was also discussion on how to best match men to where they need to be pre-and post-MROP. The CC also discussed promoting cohorts and other programs at Soularize via flyer, table, etc. Next on the agenda was a discussion on finding facilitators, stokers, and support for Soularize Councils. There was also some discussion on how to integrate "mirroring" into councils.
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Governance Council - August 30, 2022
Contact: governancecouncil@illuman.org
We started our meeting with a discussion about changing leadership at the beginning of 2023, finding out who might be interested. There was also a desire to ensure we have representation from the Wisdom Elders and to add men to the Governance Council overall.
We then discussed the use of the nomination process developed by the Governance Council. There was agreement that the process should be used for the Board of Directors and the Wisdom Elders as well as several Operational Councils including: Curricula Council, Governance Council, Futuring Council, and the Virtual Council Guiding Circle. There was also discussion about the importance of DEI when considering nominations for the Board, Wisdom Elders, and Conveners.
Broadening the pool of men that are active in Illuman leadership is the overall goal of this nomination process.
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Illuman en Español - September 25, 2022
Contact: Illuman en Español
We are very happy to report that the weekend of Sep 30-Oct 2, 2022 Illuman will be hosting its first-ever retreat totally and only in Spanish, titled (in English) Our Wounds: Doors to the Sacred.
We continue to have our monthly international council reaching men across boundaries.
With the help of Catholic Relief Services, Illuman Wisdom Elder Giovanni Perez offered a course on Peaceful Masculinity, totally in Spanish. We had participating men from SoCal and from Guatemala, via zoom.
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Illuman of the Ozarks - August 13, 2022
Contact: Paul Koch (Convener) - pk24601@yahoo.com
In August, Illuman of the Ozarks hosted the First Rites of Passage: 40 Hours in the Wilderness - a Son and Father encounter weekend. Experiential activities included making kiva ladders and a float trip and riverbank sleepover on the Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
At our last council meeting, convener Paul Koch led an activity titled: The Courage to Let Go. Spiritual Guide Jerry Thomson led all in a deep centering activity.
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Program Council - September 21, 2022
Contact: programcouncil@illuman.org
The Program Council is deep into planning the details of our upcoming Soularize gathering. Specifics included:
- The interview with Richard Rohr and/or a tribute to Rohr in the event that his health prevents him from attending. (After the meeting we learned that Rohr will not in fact be presenting.)
- Organizing the panel presentations on each of the four Work that Reconnects (WTR) topics.
- Plans for rituals - it was decided to have an opening and closing rituals but not ones for each session of the WTR.
- Plans for a Talent Show on Friday evening.
- Plans for a wives/partners reception.
As of 9/29, there are 240 people registered for Soularize.
We are also actively investigating Shrine Mont, a conference and retreat center in northern Virginia as an alternative site for "Soularize" next year. We also began an email conversation about alternative names for Soularize as we will need to rebrand the event after this year.
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Technology Council - September 14, 2022
Contact: IT@illuman.org
Members Present: Andy Gray, Anthony Monticchio, Brian Mueller, Jared Adams, Mike Clawson, Tim Sullivan
The Tech Council convened to discuss our next steps with regard to implementing the MemberLeap software. In the month prior, the Illuman Board approved the Tech Council proposal for contracting with Vieth Consulting (developers of MemberLeap) to provide Illuman with software services to help manage membership data, the Illuman website, post event notices/registration, and newsletter/email creation.
The process of implementing MemberLeap will take several months, likely stretching into early next year. Administrator Mike Clawson will take the lead in working with Vieth Consulting, but will be supported by other members of the Tech Council throughout the process. Vieth Consulting has provided several documents to help guide the process. The Tech Council is working as a team to complete these documents as quickly as possible so that the implementation process can begin.
Of note, the Ohio Chapter of Illuman and Indiana/Michigan Illuman will also be implementing the MemberLeap software to manage their chapter operations and provide a template to other chapters considering adopting Member Leap.
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Virtual Council Guiding Circle - September 7 & 21, 2022
Contact: cc-team@illuman.org
For our September Virtual Council Guiding Circle meetings we discussed Percival, and the Fisher King... How myths become personal, as well as the idea that these sort of myths are living entities, the concept that mood leaves very little room for feelings, and how we can relate to that meaning.
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Wisdom Elders - September 19, 2022
Contact: weavers@illuman.org
Members Present: Bob Juárez, Giovanni Pérez, Joe Lonergan, Richard Fay, Mike Clawson (Admin)
We had less than half of the Wisdom Elders present. Many men were either off doing other Illuman work (EROP, MROP In Czech Republic), or traveling. Bob Sabath stepped down from the WE for personal reasons. Bob Juárez led the Council which was recorded and centered on questions surrounding rediscovering the purpose, spirit and focus of our role as WE. We all agreed this was an important and necessary conversation that needed to continue in October with more representation by fellow WE. Also there was a consensus that emeritus WE should be invited into this conversation.
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Didn't see an update for your Council?
To ensure your Council is included in the next edition of The Illuman Pulse, please assign a member to write a short summary following your next meeting and submit it via the form below.
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“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
― Rob Siltanen (shared at an Illuman Board Meeting)
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