School of Mercy and Justice

Exciting News! 📣Our director, Suhail Stephen, has created a new podcast on spiritual direction called Listen with Love. ❤️

🎙 Episode 02 is live, and in the episode:

"Suhail reflects on his first encounters with spiritual direction—how it seemed to “want” him, resonating deeply with who he was and awakening an unfamiliar joy and desire. He and Mary explore how spiritual direction showed up in our Protestant and Catholic upbringings and how we discerned our vocations as spiritual directors and teachers."

🎧 Listen here:

Who Is Suhail and How Did We Become Spiritual Directors and Teachers? (E02) Training, Vocation, and Suhail’s Journey Into Spiritual Direction

📣 Big Update! Last year, Sustainable Faith (SF) informed us that the School of Mercy and Justice would no longer be under the auspices of the organization. Our last cohort under SF recently finished.

This next year will be transitional: for now, we are independently offering a few cohorts (in-person in Cleveland and online) and have our website hosted in a new space (https://writingisprayer.com/smj/).

Over the next year, we will patiently discern what's next for our school. If you are interested in a cohort or becoming a teacher or in partnering with us (or if you have any other questions), please don't hesitate to reach out!

Our Cleveland cohort is celebrating graduation next month! If you would like to hear more about possible cohorts or are interested in hosting one in your city, let us know!

As we prepare for the fall, we would love to know if you or anyone you know might be interested in participating in an online (Zoom) cohort. Let us know in the comments below!

Any interest out there for a School of Mercy and Justice cohort in Columbus, Ohio or Dallas, TX? We have a teacher available who is willing to travel if there is enough interest and possibilities for a host venue. The Cleveland, OH cohort will be continuing this year as well. Please let us know if you're interested in hosting a cohort!

Look at these fantastic people gathered for module two of our Cleveland cohort!

Our Cleveland cohort led by Marisa Lapish finished recently! To celebrate, the group went to supper at Edwin's, a "fine-dining French restaurant, founded by Brandon Chrostowski, [that] hires recently released incarcerated individuals, training them for the myriad of culinary jobs." Brandon was kind enough to come and congratulate and encourage the students and our first Cleveland cohort! We'll also be hosting another Cleveland cohort in the fall: https://sustainablefaith.com/smj-overview/

For more information on Edwin's: https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2022/01/new-york-times-includes-edwins-leadership-restaurant-institute-on-changed-world-list.htm

Finished an online cohort with these fine people from Duluth, MN this past weekend! We have laughed together, lamented together, cried together, prayed, talked, and all-around had a wonderful time.

Yahoo! This coming weekend we have a special online cohort starting in Duluth, MN taught by Suhail Stephen. If you're interested in a cohort in your location, get in touch!