The Topic

In this webinar, Richard will explore the dynamic between belonging and aloneness in soul formation. He will reflect on the necessity of both community engagement and contemplative solitude. The session will consider how organisations can create spaces for reflection without losing connection. Participants will explore how to find their own rhythm between collective participation and inward depth. Soulful work will be framed as requiring both shared purpose and personal grounding.

The Agenda

In the first half of the webinar, Richard Carter will make his presentation and facilitate initial responses.

In the second half, we'll move into a reflection-application session:

- 'Composting': experienced peers work the material in small groups to sprout new ideas;

- 'Weaving': attendees gather to collectively reflect and question, weaving our experiences together;

- Discuss how we will apply learnings to our personal practice and living in a plenary.

The Speaker

Richard Carter is Associate Vicar at St Martin’s where he has been working and living as a priest since 2006 on the edge of Trafalgar Square. Richard has special responsibility for the education and formation programme, pastoral care and outreach to those facing homelessness.  Richard is the founder of the Nazareth Community, whose members gather from everyday life to seek God in contemplation and to live compassionately and generously building a community of welcome on the edge of Trafalgar Square. He also started and coordinates the International Group which provides community and support for migrants and asylum seekers and those with no recourse to public funds.  He is the author of The City is My Monastery: A Contemporary Rule of Life, Canterbury Press and editor of Who is My Neighbour? The Global and Personal Challenge (SPCK, 2018). His latest book Letters from Nazareth: A Contemplative Journey Home (Canterbury Press 2023) are letters of encouragement for our times, and how contemplation and reflection lead to resolute action. Richard leads many retreats and quiet days and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service. 

Before living in London Richard was a member of the Melanesian Brotherhood a simple community working for peace in the South Pacific. His experiences there are described in In Search of the Lost (Canterbury Press 2006), a moving first-hand account of loss and grief after the violent deaths of seven members of his religious order.

If you purchase a ticket but can't make it in real-time, a recording will be shared with you after the webinar.