Photo by Noah Holm on Unsplash
Morgana Sythove (Co-coordinator) is Anglo/Dutch and lives in the Netherlands. She is a practising pagan and is a Wiccan Priestess. As International Coordinator for PFI/Pagan Federation International, she travels extensively giving talks and workshops about Wicca and Paganism.
She is also a board member of URI Netherlands and a URI Global Trustee Multiregion.
She represented PFI & URI at the Parliament of the World’s Religions/ PWR in 2004/ Barcelona, 2015/ Salt Lake City, 2018 Toronto, Virtual 2021.
Her passion is to protect and defend ‘the Living Environment’ in all its diversity and manifestations. She is still very much the activist – the Eco-warrior but also the peace-builder – as People of the Earth she believes that we have so much to offer – to support each other, to offer spiritual resilience when necessary and to speak up for all those living beings who have no voice. Unity in Community!
Donna Mills (Co-coordinator) lives in the aesthetically stunning Pacific Northwest, specifically in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. She is a woman committed to all things that elevate human consciousness. She is a practitioner of the healing arts, an advocate for civil conversations, and a community educator. She is the founder of HumanWell Integrative Healing and Wellness where she sees private clients healing through trauma and grief. On the consulting side of HumanWell she designs integrative workplace wellness programs for large and small businesses. The name HumanWell was created out of her unwavering need to know “How do we human well? We can see where we are missing the mark in society, but where and how are we getting it right?”
Donna is a certified caring economy advocate and partnership practitioner through Riane Eisler’s Center for Partnership Studies. She is a fierce advocate for a new narrative of economic success that elevates our collective human wellness and ability to thrive. Donna is a social healing practitioner, a narrative disruptor, and a cultural change agent. She is here to invite society into a deeper conversation about civility and connectivity. She believes that, “and justice for all” means just that. For all.
Donna earned a degree in Sustainable Small Acreage Farming and Ranching with an emphasis on Small Farm Advocacy, Community Education and Development, and Local Economics. She is a local food systems educator, and thrills in leading community members on local and regional farm tours to meet their farmers, ranchers, and other local artisan and cottage industry craftspeople. She is committed to investing her money in local spending first and foremost.
Donna is also a Lay Pastoral Minister through the Unitarian Universalist Association and is ordained to perform all many celebrations of life, from unions to end of life doula services. In this work she gently guides humans through the sacred journey of living and dying. She is often called upon to share her insightful wisdom on the divine, and has most recently stepped fully into her role as High Priestess in her Pagan faith.
Donna is a mystic, a tarot reader, an intuitive healer, and a conscious thought leader for these changing times. She practices a very intentful and cyclical lifestyle that includes loads of joy, playful exploration, good food, and always, always, more beautiful humans. Indeed, she produced two such beautiful humans herself, her son Dane, and her daughter Rowan. She excels at growing food and wild foraging, loves to be on the water, is a collector of smiles, and can be found spending teatime with her favorite feline, Professor MooseySoftpaws.
Terry Ayling is a spiritual entrepreneur, consultant, inter-spiritual care practitioner & compassion advocate. He is Facilitator of the ‘Compassionate Cities Gold Coast’ Initiative; Spiritual Care Co-ordinator of Palliative Care Queensland; (formerly of) Gold Coast Health Spiritual Care Services; and Creative Director of Spirited Communities p/l. A spiritual care practitioner for almost 40 years, in a variety of settings, Terry is committed to the creation and animation of spirited and compassionate communities, with a special interest in compassion in healthcare and compassion at the end-of-life. He is the Council’s Lead for the Compassionate Cities initiative.
Kiran Bali, MBE JP has led many organizations to enhance interfaith action, environmental justice, and women’s empowerment through selfless service and multidisciplinary approaches. Kiran was honored by HM Queen Elizabeth II with the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire accolade in 2008 and has received a number of international awards for her achievements. A Hindu Faith Leader, she provides courses to students of all ages.
Tackling climate change through advocacy and empowering grassroots communities with knowledge, she launched the Hindu declaration on climate change in India and spoke at the launch of the inter-faith declaration on climate change in New York. As a UK magistrate, Kiran underpins all her initiatives with the principles of social justice, compassion and equity toward creating safer, healthier and stronger inclusive communities.
Stephenie Bushra Khan originally from Winchendon Massachusetts. Graduate of the Worcester Art Museum professional artist poet and freelance writer publishing in Islamic and Tiferet magazine presently writing for Islamic Horizons. Exhibits and sells work locally and internationally.
Stephenie grew up in Massachusetts woods married into subcontinent and Bengali culture. Influenced by Sufism Islam and Transcendentalism. She is past secretary of the interfaith Council of Murrieta and Temecula Valley and past board member of Dorland Mountain Art Colony Temecula California. One of seven families founders of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley and member of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi order.
She is a symbolist and also paints and writes about mental health issues and influenced also with her French Canadian Catholic back ground which is ingrained in her.
Rev. Jan Chase has been the minister of Unity Church of Pomona, a New Thought Interfaith Community, since January 2003, teaching practical applications of spiritual principles to enhance health in body, mind, relationships, finances, and the community. She has been teaching stress reduction techniques for over forty years, assisting people in finding inner peace, and growing in mindful awareness.
Passionate about bringing people together in compassionate ways, Jan is currently involved in 3 local Interfaith groups and on Unity’s National Interfaith Team. She has also been a facilitator for 3 years in Conversations about Race with the Circle of Chairs working from Pilgrim Place, with NAACP, NCNW and now the Baha’is.
Active in the Parliament of the World’s Religions since 2007, Jan has attended and presented at many global and regional Parliament events. It was at the 2015 Parliament in Salt Lake City that Jan and 26 Interfaith friends from the Pomona Valley of California presenting at the Parliament first heard about the Compassionate Cities Movement and vowed to work to create compassionate cities throughout our valley. Compassionate Pomona was the first city to sign on along with our PUSD School District in early 2018. Jan has had that honor of convening an amazing group of community leaders and organizations who are shifting the consciousness of the city into heart-centered compassionate work together. Out of our Compassionate Pomona work has grown interest in Restorative Practices, SKY Breathing and Wellness Courses, Conversations with Pomona Police, Compassionate California, and now the Charter for Compassion’s RISE team.
A Medical Technologist for 30 years, living and serving on three continents, Jan uses her scientific background to enhance spiritual knowledge and teachings. Graduating from Unity School of Christianity in 2000 as an ordained Unity Minister, she was also guided to study at Claremont School of Theology, where she received a Master of Arts degree in 2016.
Jan is the mother of two grown children. Her daughter Amelia lives and teachers in Norway, her son Ben lives in Minneapolis with his wife Melissa Saldana Chase, from Mexico, and their son Alex.
Steven Kramer is an interfaith minister, a poet, and a budding artist , who encounters the Divine in all of nature, of which we are part. The forest is his cathedral and the seashore his heavenly choir. His background of having a B.S. in Biology gives him an appreciation of the intricately complex miracles we are. He has been blessed to learn from Indigenous spiritual teachers whom have been willing to share their wisdom these past 30 years. He retired from 30+ years of hospice nursing in February of 2021. He has since been involved in the Charter for Compassion. Becoming involved in the Environment Sector is part of his ministry. Mother Earth has given so much to him. He is trying to return the favor as he continue his journey. Most of all, he feels he is very much a work in progress.
Imam Jamal Rahman is a popular speaker on Islam, Sufi spirituality, and interfaith relations. Along with his Interfaith Amigos, he has been featured in the New York Times, CBS News, BBC, and various NPR programs. Jamal is co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary, and adjunct faculty at Seattle University and Pacific Lutheran University. He is a former co-host of Interfaith Talk Radio, and travels nationally and internationally, presenting at retreats and workshops.
He is the author of Sacred Laughter of the Sufis: Awakening the Soul with the Mullah's Comic Teaching Stories and Other Islamic Wisdom; Spiritual Gems of Islam: Insights & Practices from the Qur'an, Hadith, Rumi & Muslim Teaching Stories to Enlighten the Heart & Mind; The Fragrance of Faith: The Enlightened Heart of Islam; and coauthor of: Finding Peace Through Spiritual Practice: The Interfaith Amigos Guide to Personal, Social, and Environmental Healing; Religion Gone Astray: What We Found at the Heart of Interfaith; Out of Darkness into Light: Spiritual Guidance in the Quran with Reflections from Jewish and Christian Sources; and Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi, and an Imam. Jamal's latest book, The Teachers of Spiritual Wisdom: Gaining Perspective on Life’s Perplexing Questions is co-authored with Duncan S. Ferguson and Mary Petrina Boyd.
Jamal's passion lies in interfaith community building. He remains rooted in his Islamic tradition and cultivates a "spaciousness" by being open to the beauty and wisdom of other faiths. By authentically and appreciatively understanding other paths, Jamal feels that he becomes a better Muslim and a more developed human being. This spaciousness is not about conversion but about completion.
Girish Shah emigrated from Bombay to northern California in 1963 to pursue graduate studies at the University of California (Berkeley). As an executive consultant with IBM Global Service and numerous other Silicon Valley ventures, he specialized in e-business solutions, retiring in 2004. In 1981 he helped found the Jain Center of Northern California and has been active there since, twice serving as its president. Today he serves as trustee on half a dozen different boards in the San Jose area. He was instrumental in planning the magnificent temple the Jains built in 2000 and a founding member of the Silicon Valley Interreligious Council. Within his community he is known as an interfaith activist, attending the 1999 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne.
Arun Wakhlu, (born 1955) is the Founder Director and Chief Mentor of Pragati Leadership Institute, Pune, India. He is also the Chairman of Pragati Foundation, an NGO dedicated to unfolding Joy, Peace and Abundance through facilitating connections, conversations and co-creation.
Arun holds a B. Tech degree from IIT Delhi, and a PGDBA from IIM Ahmedabad. An eloquent presenter, insightful coach and a Master Facilitator, Arun has logged over 25,000 hours of facilitation and coaching internationally. He has worked to develop leaders in leading organizations (Business, NGOs and Governments).
An accomplished writer, Arun has published more than twenty eight papers and written the award winning book “Managing from the Heart." He has helped pioneer the concept of "Wholesome Development" and “Wholesome Leadership” aimed at working from joy for prosperity with peace. His latest book ( co-authored with his father Prof. Dr. Omkar N Wakhlu ) “One Wholesome World” is a practical game changing manual for global transformation starting with each one of us.
Arun’s seven core strengths are Compassion, Creativity, Optimism, Enthusiasm, Relationship Building, Strategic Mindedness and Resilience. He loves life and sees it as Love In Full Expression!
