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Jim
Conlon grew up on the shore of the St. Clair River whose waters provide
the border between his native Canada and the United States. The youngest
child of an Irish father and French Canadian mother, Jim attended the
village school of his Southwestern Ontario home.
His early
years were spent bathed in the beauty of the Great Lakes bio-region and
responding to his love for baseball; both became in many ways classrooms
for life’s important gifts and lessons.
Following attendance at a district high school eleven miles from his home,
Jim received a degree in chemistry from Assumption University of Windsor
and later in theology from the University of Western Ontario.
Deeply moved by the impact of the Vatican Council II, the Civil Rights
Movement, the Vietnam War, and the therapeutic revolution, Jim moved from
pastoral work to the streets. He felt propelled to follow his uncertain
journey by listening to his heart. The years that followed brought him
to Urban Training Centers in Toronto and Chicago, the Industrial Areas
Foundation- Saul Alinsky Training Institute, the Catholic Committee on
Urban Ministry, communication therapy, popular education, and now his
contribution to the Great Work of humanity’s historical mission
of cosmic wisdom found in the voices of those who cry for justice, healing
and bread.
Today he pursues with “evolutionary faith” a passion for the
wisdom that is revealed in the universe story, in the lives of his ancestors,
and his own tradition.
As a teacher and administrator, author and presenter, he strives to give
voice to the cry of a people who find meaning in the narrative of their
lives, in the promise of geo-justice, in the cosmic melodies that resonate
among us, in the deep ponderings that take us to the precipice of new
beginnings, and in the unspoken hunger that finds expression in the sacred
impulses of our lives.
As Jim’s life continues to unfold, he has reached a point where
he now wishes to invite you to join him on the journey and, through his
talks and presentations, to invite you to discover what you plan to do
with your “one wild and precious life.”
________________
Experience
Develops, directs and teaches programs in spirituality and culture,
theological education, social and ecological justice, popular and adult
education, community organization and development; and animates mediating
structures of information, support and common action.
Chronology
1996 - Present
CHAIRPERSON/DIRECTOR
Sophia Center: A Wisdom School Celebrating Earth, Art and Spirit
Holy Names College, Oakland, CA
1991 - 1996
CHAIRPERSON/DIRECTOR
Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality
Holy Names College, Oakland, CA
1990 - Present
ADJUNCT FACULTY
The Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH
1989 - Present
ADJUNCT FACULTY
Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
School of Applied Theology
1984 - 1991
PROGRAM DIRECTOR & ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality
Holy Names College, Oakland, CA
1977 - 1984
DIRECTOR OF FIELD EDUCATION AND FACULTY MEMBER
Department of Pastoral Theology
Toronto School of Theology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
COMMUNITY REPRESENTATIVE
Canadian Mental Health Association,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DIRECTOR
Institute for Communities in Canada
Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology
Rexdale, Ontario, Canada
ADJUNCT FACULTY
York University
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
ASSOCIATE PASTOR
London Diocese, Ontario, Canada |
