“Having shared such deep pain, and still being loved and accepted by the group, was freeing. . . It’s as if I was lifted above the judgment and fear of others, and can see the goodness and possibility in us all.”
~Female participant
“I am a gay man coming from long term heterosexual marriage. . . This Gender Equity and Reconciliation International experience allowed me to move forward knowing who I am, who I hurt and that I am accepted and loved. I can now say I know better the way I have shown up as a male in a patriarchal culture and how that impacts the women around me.“
~ Brad, male participant
Deep respect to the 31 men and women who participated in a four-day intensive Gender Equity and Reconciliation process last week at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It was a pleasure to launch this workshop in collaboration with Illuman (men’s rites of passage organization founded by Fr. Richard Rohr).
In these deep four days together, we shared our hearts with each other, hearing stories of loss and grief, broken love relationships, and violations that injured our sense of trust and safety – all while holding in our hearts the prayer to find a new path towards healing and reconciliation, towards remembering and restoring our own inherent wholeness. The depth of this sharing and truth-telling flowered into a shared intimacy, friendship, and mutual appreciation in the group, which was expressed so beautifully in the closing honoring ceremonies where the men honored and uplifted the women, and the women in turn honored and uplifted the men in celebration of all we had shared and experienced together.
Deep gratitude to Terry Symens-Bucher, President of the Illuman Board of Directors, for your dedication and the heart you poured into making this event happen. And thank you to the facilitation team, Will Keepin, Cynthia Brix, Phil Vivirito, Alka Arora, Garrett Evans, and Michele Breene, for your skillful and sensitive holding of this group and process. Gratitude also to Stephen Picha and Ghost Ranch Retreat Center for hosting this workshop.