Earth, Spirituality, and Hope on the Agenda for Events with Dr. Lisa Dahill

Dr. Lisa Dahill, Director of the Center for Transformative Spirituality at HIU, will be the keynote speaker and retreat leader for “Loving the Wild: Spirituality in the 21st Century,” set to take place at the Prairiewoods Franciscan Retreat Center in Hiawatha, Iowa, from May 15 to 17, 2026. The weekend event also marks the celebration of the center’s 30th anniversary.

In-person attendees can participate for the full weekend or for a stand-alone day on Saturday, May 16. Those unable to attend locally can join Saturday’s events virtually. “I hope these will be rich and nourishing events for all who attend,” Dr. Dahill said. 

The Saturday event description reads: “In times of overwhelming social and political chaos, we need grounding in the sacred kinship that sustains us, the Earth-relationships that comprise us. This day together will open into teachings from humans of many traditions and the wisdom of this place and its creatures and waters and wind. What does it mean to assert, with theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, that ‘God and world are one reality, not two’ – or, with geologian Thomas Berry, that ‘the universe is the ultimate sacred reality’ – or, with Muscogee poet Joy Harjo, that ‘we must take the utmost care/ and kindness in all things’? How might we too come to perceive this Earth, our own homes, our own bodies, as holy ground? What does such perception make possible for our hearts, our health, our sanity, our spirituality, our action in the world?”

The full weekend retreat will extend the experience further. The retreat description reads: “What do your heart and spirit and body long for, in relation to Earth – or where are you beckoned deeper, falling in love with the Sacred Wild? This contemplative retreat weekend will invite participants into this sacred grounding in Earth-relation, by means of both indoor and outdoor practices of deep listening to the animate presences of the living world, the longings of our own hearts and bodies, one another’s depths, the divine presence that is our home. This will be a rich and holy time, open to all and with space for you.”

Following the Iowa retreat, Lisa will lead the daylong symposium “Spiritualities of Resilience: Aligning with Earth in Hartford on Saturday, May 30, to consider looming questions around the health and future of life on Earth. Featuring three expert keynote speakers and time for outdoor workshops, the event promises to shift attendees’ worldviews and offer hope. 

Dahill has also just published an article this month, “Jesus Between: Bonhoeffer, Interbeing, and Co-Becoming in an Emergent Christian Spirituality,” appearing in Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 26/1 (Spring 2026): 103-120.