Rev. Xolani Kacela, Ph.D.
Teresa Valenzuela is the guest. She joined host Rev. Carolyn Wilkins for a lively conversation on Take On Faith on KTAL-LP 101.5.
Teresa Valenzuela discussed her path as a bi-lingual educator, spiritual practitioner/counselor and community service advocate. Her goal is to ‘pray it forward.’
Dr. Matthew Welsh founded the Spiritual Media Blog, which hosts interviews and resources for readers and communities. He joined host Rev. Xolani Kacela for a lively conversation on Take On Faith on KTAL-LP 101.5.
Dr. Welsh shared his story of leaving his law career, earning a Ph.D. in psychology, and going into practice. He also sees patients at the Veteran Affairs Center in Indianapolis. Importantly, the interview covered how mental health and spirituality merge.
Surprisingly, Matt Welsh revealed half of his blog’s content is targeted to people seeking resources for a better life. Most of his guests practice non-traditional spirituality. Dr. Welsh shared how writing his novel helped him deal with important life issues and discover his purpose.
You can contact Dr. Matt Welsh at editor@spiritualmediablog.com.
Dr. Matthew Welsh J.D., Ph.D. is the founder of Spiritual Media Blog. After graduating from law school Dr. Welsh created Spiritual Media Blog to be a source of inspirational content, media, and entertainment. He began his career in Hollywood working for an entertainment agency, the William Morris Agency, and then as a trial lawyer for the Department of Child Services in Indiana. He realized that he was not happy working as a lawyer. So, he quit his job as a lawyer to pursue his calling to become a psychologist and obtained his PhD in Psychology. He now works as a full-time clinical psychologist. For more information about his private coaching and counseling practice, please visit https://drmatthewwelsh.com.
Dr. Welsh has presented inspirational lectures on how to create a meaningful career to venues across the country including the San Diego Convention Center, international not-for-profit organization Dress For Success, and the University of Notre Dame. He is the author of The Bottom Line, a novel about a young man in college learning how to overcome the male ego. He has also appeared in film as a featured guest for the Spiritual Cinema Circle DVD club, alongside Stephen Simon, producer of Academy Award winning film, What Dreams May Come. His podcast has featured conversations with thought-leaders including Neale Donald Walsch, Arielle Ford, James Redfield (Author of Celestine Prophecy) and William Arntz (Director of What the Bleep Do We Know?).
Dr. Larry Ward practices as an ordained Buddhist teacher and ordained Christian minister. He completed his Buddhist studies with the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh at Plum Village in France. He authored the book America’s Racial Karma, which is published by Parallax Press in 2020.
During this Take On Faith episode, Dr. Ward and host Xolani Kacela discussed subjects covered in his book. They explored Ward’s experience of race while teaching in China and Africa. Ward discussed the importance of being in the body.
He shared what it means to be African American and Buddhist. His research covers the beginning of racism. Also, the show explored his meditative and prayer life and the reflective work covered in the book.
The conversation covered how spiritual practices can heal the racial divide in America. Host and guest explored neuroscience, trauma, embodied spirituality, and how history and truth impact human identity and emotions.
You can contact Dr. Larry Ward at larry@thelotusinstitute.org.
So says Zen Buddhist teacher Dr. Larry Ward.
Shot at by the police as an 11-year-old child for playing baseball in the wrong spot, as an adult, Larry Ward experienced the trauma of having his home firebombed by racists. At Plum Village Monastery in France, the home in exile of his teacher, Vietnamese peace activist and Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Dr. Ward found a way to heal. In these short reflective essays, he offers his insights on the effects of racial constructs and answers the question: how do we free ourselves from our repeated cycles of anger, denial, bitterness, pain, fear, violence? Larry Ward looks at the causes and conditions that have led us to our current state and finds, hidden in the crisis, a profound opportunity to reinvent what it means to be a human being. This is an invitation to transform America’s racial karma.
Centering Revisited offers an update to the book, Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, edited by Rev. Mitra Rahnema. This video comes from the Centering Revisited webinar/workshop at UUA General Assembly 2021.
The excerpts are from updates spoken by Rev. Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Rev. Cheryl M. Walker.
The 2017-18 UUA Common Read
In October 2015, a group of distinguished UU religious professionals of color gathered together in Chicago to embark on a radical project. The conference was sponsored by the UUMA’s Committee on Antiracism, Anti-oppression, and Multiculturalism. It started with the premise that discussions of race in Unitarian Universalism have too often presupposed a White audience and prioritized the needs, education, and emotions of the White majority. The goal was to reframe Unitarian Universalist anti-oppression work by putting the voices, experiences and learnings of people of color at the center of the conversation. The resulting book, Centering, captures the papers that were presented and the rich dialogue from the conference to share personal stories and address the challenges that religious leaders of color face in exercising power, agency, and authority in a culturally White denomination. Centering explores how racial identity is made both visible and invisible in Unitarian Universalist ministries.
For the free online study guide click here.
