This past Thursday, the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC), announced that their founder, Father Richard Rohr, would be stepping back from public life and retiring from his active duties at the CAC. Citing his recent diagnosis and ongoing treatment of lymphatic cancer, Father Rohr wrote, “I want to create space for those carrying this work forward into the future.”

In the announcement, CAC Executive Director Michael Poffenberger explains that the shift in Fr. Rohr’s role had already been happening gradually for some time, and CAC Core Faculty member Brian McLaren reminded readers that “At every step of this transition process, Richard has said again and again that he doesn’t want [his work] to become a monument to the past, but wants it to be a continuing movement… This is the greatest way we honor Richard’s beautiful legacy.”

Father Rohr is also the founder of Illuman, launching our ministry a decade ago with a charge to carry on his longtime men’s work and especially the Men’s Rites of Passage experience he had been developing since the 1990s. A frequent presenter at Illuman’s annual Soularize gatherings, Rohr’s teachings and writings on masculine spirituality and inner work have deeply influenced countless men. We look forward to hosting Father Rohr again at next week’s Soularize gathering in New Mexico.