Walking the Beauty Way: Indigenous Native American Wisdom and Franciscan Contemplation

A three-week, online series with the RT. Rev. Br. Mark D'Alessio; a book study and contemplative practice journey

Thursdays, October 15, 22, and 29, 2026, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. U.S./EST

$90 for the three-part series (including recordings)
Inquire about partial scholarships

Register Here

About this offering

What if the path to healing — for ourselves, our communities and Earth — is not something new to be invented, but something ancient to be remembered? Join Br. Mark for a three-part online series exploring the profound parallels between Indigenous American spirituality and contemplative Christian (Franciscan) tradition. Rooted in the shared insight that all of creation is sacred, interconnected and alive with divine presence, this series invites participants into a deeper way of seeing, being and belonging. At the heart of our time together is The Beauty Way — a way of life grounded in harmony, balance, reverence and right relationship. Across traditions, this path names a spiritual orientation in which we live not in domination over Earth, but in kinship with it.

Guided by Rev. Randy Woodley’s book “Becoming Rooted,” this is both a book study and contemplative practice journey. Participants will read and reflect on selections from the book together, engaging its teachings in community through dialogue, meditation and lived spiritual practice. Rev. Woodley invites us to recover an Indigenous worldview of harmony and relationality — calling us to become “better relatives” to one another and to Earth, and to reimagine spirituality as a lived practice of balance, reciprocity and gratitude.

Together, we will explore:

• The Community of Creation – Recognizing the sacred interconnectedness of all living beings
• The Indigenous Worldview – Living in humility, harmony, and right relationship
• Becoming Better Earth Relatives – Practicing reciprocity, gratitude and reverence
• From Domination to Harmony – Reimagining our place within the web of life.

We will place these teachings in dialogue with Franciscan spirituality, especially the vision of St. Francis 
and the “Canticle of the Creatures,” which proclaims all beings as kin — Brother Sun, Sister Moon and all creation 
as part of a sacred family. Across traditions, we will explore the shared language of harmony with Earth:

• Eutierria (Greek) — a profound sense of oneness and harmony with the Earth
• Są’áh Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhóó (Diné/Navajo) — living in balance and beauty within the cosmos
• Eloheh (Cherokee) — harmony, wholeness, peace and right relationship

About the presenter

The Rt. Rev. Br. Mark D’Alessio is a Franciscan friar, Christian bishop and priest, ordained lay Buddhist, spiritual director, chaplain author and retreat leader, and former president and executive director of the Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute. He serves as Mentor General of the Companions of Francis and Clare and as Dean of its Institute for Interfaith Understanding and Practice. Ordained in multiple spiritual lineages — Christian (Franciscan) and Buddhist (Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Tradition) — his teaching affirms the Christian Wisdom tradition within a wider inter-spiritual framework.