Abbey of the Arts 20th Anniversary Celebration!
with Christine Valters Paintner, Amber Andreasen, Betsey Beckman, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Deirdre Ní Chinnéide, Felicia Murrell, Melinda Thomas, Michael Moore, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, and other amazing members of our Wisdom Council
Monday, April 27, 2026
4:30-6pm Ireland
11:30am-1pm Eastern
8:30-10am Pacific
Come help us celebrate 20 wonderful years of contemplative practice and creative expression with kindred spirits!
It is worth a holy pause to reflect on the journey thus far.
Program Description
In this gathering we’ll share stories about how the Abbey unfolded, sing and dance together, and invite you into your own meditative experience.
You are welcome whether you’re brand new to the Abbey or whether you’ve been with us for years (and some of you from the very start!)
We will have a random prize drawing for those who are able to join us live.
This event is free to join but we also welcome donations to help support our scholarship programs to keep the Abbey accessible into the next 20 years!
We will turn on closed captioning during the live Zoom session (which you are able to turn off in your settings if you find distracting) as well as provide a video recording with closed captioning available and a text transcript of the session within 24 hours. You will be sent a notification when this is ready to view.
You have lifetime access to all online programs.
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE is the online Abbess and director of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, Benedictine oblate, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery–a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
Amber Andreasen
Amber Andreasen is a contemplative, ever desiring to deepen into and dance the rhythms of monk and artist. She has trained as a spiritual director, receiving her M.A. in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care from The Institute of Spiritual Formation at Talbot School of Theology. She has her B.S. and M.S. in Kinesiology and a Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition. She has also done training in BioSpiritual Focusing as a holistic approach to spiritual growth. Wherever she finds herself, she desires to nurture a compassionate space where others can be listened, beheld and loved into fuller being by the Beloved. She is continually awed by the body as sacred storyholder and storyteller and by dance and movement as conduits of deep interior silence, stillness and joy. Her heart beats loudly for the weaving together of creativity and spirituality in the discovering of what it means to live an embodied, fully human life in all its mystery and wonder.
Betsey Beckman
Betsey Beckman, MM is nationally acclaimed as a spirited dancer, storyteller, teacher of SpiritPlay and dancing Spiritual Director. With her extensive repertory of sacred storydances, she is regularly featured as artist/presenter at national conventions as well as local churches. She earned her Masters in Ministry degree from Seattle University, her certificate in Movement Therapy from the Institute for Transformational Movement, and is a certified InterPlay leader. As dancer, choreographer, author, mother, wife, teacher and spiritual director, she is passionate about living life fully and fostering creativity in all those with whom she shares life and ministry. Betsey’s publications include books (she is co-author ofAwakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction), recordings — including producing the Abbey of the Arts CD collections and The Dancing Word series of DVDs on embodied prayer, many of which companion the Abbey CDs. She offers the gift of playful improvisation whenever possible.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD
Carmen Acevedo Butcher is an award-winning translator, poet, and workshop leader. She has been interviewed on the BBC’s Compass, NPR’s Morning Edition, and Dante’s Old South, and many others found on her linktree. Her Cloud of Unknowing translation received a 46th Georgia Author of the Year Award, and Martin Laird calls her translation of Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence “the new standard.” Carmen holds degrees in Medieval Studies from the University of Georgia, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, and teaches in the College Writing Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an Affiliate Faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation and has contributed teaching to the CAC’s Essentials of Engaged Contemplation course. Carmen lives in the Bay Area, and is working on a chapbook of poetry. Visit her YouTube channel here.
Deirdre Ní Chinnéide
Deirdre Ní Chinnéide is trained as a psychotherapist / spiritual director and workshop facilitator. She has worked all over Ireland, the U.S.A. and Europe including Bosnia and Kosovo. The Aran Islands with its unique history, culture and natural beauty provides a special setting for the retreat work, and was the place of inspiration for Celtic Passage, a journey of the heart which she leads through music, reflection and prayer. Deirdre divides her time between the Aran Islands and the mainland offering retreats, workshops and performances of spiritual music and also works part time with Partners in Faith, a Catholic adult faith education programme working in marginalised areas in Ireland.
Deirdre has also co-authored the book Journey to the Well: Connecting to Celtic Ways and Wisdom.
Felicia Murrell
Felicia Murrell is a spiritual director and the author of AND: The Restorative Power of Love In An Either/Or World. With over 20 years of church leadership experience, her writing has been featured multiple times in the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Daily Meditations and their biannual journal ONEING. As a contemplative thought leader, Felicia has spoken at the Black Contemplative Prayer Summit and other widely recognized organizations. She believes Love is the source of our authentic power and that a love ethos can be embodied as a way of being in the world. For Felicia, the Way of Love (agape) is to consciously participate with the Divine in how we live, move and have our being. Mom to 4 adult children, she makes her home in Woodbury, Minnesota (USA) with her husband, Doug.
Melinda Thomas
Melinda Thomas, E-RYT 500 is the Program Coordinator for Abbey of the Arts providing program and logistical support, forum facilitation, and yoga. She also offer prayers and other content contributions to the Prayer Cycles and retreats. Melinda is an experienced yoga teacher and has been studying and practicing yoga for more than twenty-five years. In each of her classes and workshops Melinda weaves spiritual and contemplative themes into accessible, alignment based movement practice. Her aim is to honor the spiritual foundation of yoga in conversation with monastic and contemplative wisdom that offers participants a safe, inclusive, and integrated experience. Melinda is a writer and the author of Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way. Her newest book is Elements of Being: A Spiritual Memoir in Verse. She lives in North Carolina with her son and their cat and always has fresh flowers on the kitchen table.
She writes The Journal of Elements and Seasons on Substack.
Michael Moore
Michael Moore is a retired USAF Chaplain and a retired pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) who currently lives in Mobile, Alabama with his wife and partner in life and ministry, Denise. His undergraduate degree is in Business Administration (University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire) and he earned his Master of Divinity degree from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (Saint Paul, MN). He served two small, yoked Presbyterian Churches in rural Fergus Falls, MN for three years before going on Active Duty with the USAF for 21 years. Following his retirement from the Air Force, he served churches in Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and Alabama. He has a Certificate in Christian Spiritual Formation from Columbia Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA.
A writer and photographer, you can find him blogging at ScotsIrishPadre.blog or at Godspace as a member of that community.
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, MA is a Psalmist, spiritual director and freelance musician. He enjoys all manner of projects in theology and the arts. Through his company, Worldmaking.net, he is publishing imaginative and adventurous songs for the ever-evolving church. Raised in the Midwestern United States, he is a husband to Trish and a dad to Sam. Faves: discovery, music, Star Wars, bosc pears, blue, laughter, naps. Visit Richard online at Worldmaking.net and Patreon.com/RichardBC
Simon de Voil
Reverend Simon Ruth de Voil is an ordained interfaith-interspiritual minister, sacred musician, spiritual counsellor, and chaplain. His sacred work—both musical and interpersonal—explores themes of the inner landscape of the soul, the enchantment of the natural world, and the healing power of spiritual practice. As a chaplain and counsellor, Simon helps individuals and groups connect sacred presence with everyday life. Simon was born in Scotland, but now makes his home in the mountains of Vermont. He’s delighted to be called a stay at home monk and a “trans grandpa” to queer and trans youth.
Terms and Conditions
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