Leaders

• Katherine Murray
  

  Katherine Murray

  Katherine Murray is passionate about spiritual formation and transformation, and spiritual practices that deepen our awareness of the Divine. Spiritually, she is most at home in the contemplative Christian tradition guided by the commitment to both contemplation and action, and the contemplative values of Silence, Solitude, Simplicity and Service. Katherine loves the mystics, deeply values the Wisdom offered by other faith traditions, and life lived contemplatively. Katherine attends an Anglican church and is very involved in her church community.

  Katherine is a spiritual director and retreat leader. To this retreat offering she also brings a background in social work, a graduate degree in International Relations, and theological studies. Time spent in South Africa, Israel, Palestine, and Kenya, and involvement in the Abbotsford Interfaith Movement, has been significant in her spiritual formation and in expanding her awareness of God.

• Laura Duhan-Kaplan
  

  Laura Duhan-Kaplan

  Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is Director of Inter-Religious Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies at Vancouver School of Theology. To that work, she brings her training in philosophy and education (Claremont Graduate University), spiritual direction (Vancouver School of Theology), and Jewish studies (ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal). She also brings her decade of experience as Rabbi of Or Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver, where she taught children and adults of all ages. For her innovative teaching, she has won many awards, including US Professor of the Year.

  Rabbi Laura’s recent books express her interests in animals, kabbalah and spiritual practice. They include Mouth of the Donkey: Re-Imagining Biblical Animals (Cascade, 2021); Shechinah, Bring Me Home: Kabbalah and the Omer in Real Life (Cascade, 2022); and The Infinity Inside: Jewish Spiritual Practice Through a Multi-Faith Lens (Albion-Andalus, 2019).

  Rabbi Laura, an award-winning teacher, loves to bring people together for dialogue and discussion. Each year she hosts an interfaith conference at VST on a theme of public concern. With her colleagues, she has co-edited the books Spirit of Reconciliation (CRRF, 2020) and Encountering the Other (Wipf and Stock, 2020). Rabbi Laura has led retreats at Naramata Centre, Bethlehem Centre, and Sorrento Centre. She and her husband Charles are musical partners, parents of two young adults, and caretakers of a changing array of companion animals.