{"id":391,"date":"2026-05-05T14:20:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/?page_id=391"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:37:26","slug":"program","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/program\/","title":{"rendered":"Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[et_pb_section fb_built=&#8221;1&#8243; module_class=&#8221;_hero-section&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; background_size=&#8221;contain&#8221; background_position=&#8221;top_center&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;||0px||false|false&#8221; background_last_edited=&#8221;on|tablet&#8221; background_image_tablet=&#8221;http:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/mushroom_final-mobile-scaled.png&#8221; background_enable_image_tablet=&#8221;on&#8221; parallax_tablet=&#8221;off&#8221; background_size_tablet=&#8221;custom&#8221; background_image_width_tablet=&#8221;120%&#8221; background_image_height_tablet=&#8221;auto&#8221; background_position_tablet=&#8221;top_center&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; background__hover_enabled=&#8221;off|desktop&#8221;][et_pb_row admin_label=&#8221;Hero Image Row&#8221; module_class=&#8221;hero-image-row&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;%91understory_hero_image%93&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<picture class=\"understory-hero-picture\"><source media=\"(max-width: 980px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/themes\/divi-child\/img\/Moth_Final-mobile.png\"><img src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/themes\/divi-child\/img\/Moth-desktop.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" \/><\/picture>[\/et_pb_code][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; background_color=&#8221;#000000&#8243; width_tablet=&#8221;&#8221; width_phone=&#8221;90%&#8221; width_last_edited=&#8221;on|phone&#8221; max_width=&#8221;992px&#8221; max_width_tablet=&#8221;100%&#8221; max_width_phone=&#8221;100%&#8221; max_width_last_edited=&#8221;on|tablet&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;5vh||||false|false&#8221; custom_padding=&#8221;|30px||30px|false|true&#8221; border_color_bottom=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_column type=&#8221;4_4&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.5&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;%91breadcrumbs%93&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.5&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; max_width=&#8221;800px&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<nav class=\"understory-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/\" class=\"breadcrumb-link\">Home<\/a><span class=\"breadcrumb-sep\" aria-hidden=\"true\">&gt;<\/span><span class=\"breadcrumb-current\">Program<\/span><\/nav>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;The Understory Festival&#8221; module_class=&#8221;schedule-title&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#999999&#8243; header_2_text_color=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; max_width=&#8221;736px&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;40px||0px||false|false&#8221; custom_margin_tablet=&#8221;20px||0px||false|false&#8221; custom_margin_phone=&#8221;20px||0px||false|false&#8221; custom_margin_last_edited=&#8221;on|desktop&#8221; locked=&#8221;off&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h2><span>The Understory Festival<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=&#8221;A Living Magazine &#8221; module_class=&#8221;body-medium&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; max_width=&#8221;736px&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||15px||false|false&#8221; locked=&#8221;off&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p2\"><span style=\"color: #b36735;\">A Living Magazine <\/span><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p2\">[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=&#8221;body-medium&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_font=&#8221;||on||||||&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; text_orientation=&#8221;center&#8221; max_width=&#8221;736px&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||15px||false|false&#8221; locked=&#8221;off&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #b36735;\">May 28\u201330, 2026 \u00b7 Washington National Cathedral<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=&#8221;body-medium&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; text_font=&#8221;||on||||||&#8221; text_text_color=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; max_width=&#8221;736px&#8221; module_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;||15px||false|false&#8221; locked=&#8221;off&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p>What follows is a collage we have prepared for you to wander through before you choose your breakouts. They unfold in three movements: &#8220;A Time to Build&#8221; on Friday afternoon (2:00\u20133:30); &#8220;Explore &amp; Encounter&#8221; (Friday, 4:00\u20135:00); and &#8220;After the Overstory&#8221; (Saturday, 9:45\u201310:45). Some sessions invite argument and debate; others still us into attention, encounter, and craft. Follow the threads that pull on you as you read, and trust that the whole will reveal itself as you move through these three days in the company of strangers, turned friends.<\/p>\n<p>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=&#8221;https:\/\/understory.comment.org\/2026\/sign-in&#8221; url_new_window=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text=&#8221;Click to log in and register for breakouts&#8221; button_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; disabled_on=&#8221;off|off|off&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Click to login and register for breakouts&#8221; module_class=&#8221;font-inter-tight&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_button=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text_size=&#8221;12px&#8221; button_text_color=&#8221;#cca076&#8243; button_border_width=&#8221;1px&#8221; button_font=&#8221;|||on|||||&#8221; button_use_icon=&#8221;off&#8221; hover_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221; button_bg_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;on|hover&#8221; button_bg_color__hover=&#8221;#FFFFFF&#8221; button_bg_enable_color__hover=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text_color__hover_enabled=&#8221;on|hover&#8221; button_text_color__hover=&#8221;#000000&#8243; sticky_enabled=&#8221;0&#8243;][\/et_pb_button][et_pb_code admin_label=&#8221;%91festival_program edition_slug=%22understory-festival-2026%22 days_start=%22first-open%22%93&#8243; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_margin=&#8221;40px||||false|false&#8221; global_colors_info=&#8221;{}&#8221;]<section class=\"festival-program\" data-edition=\"understory-festival-2026\" aria-label=\"Festival program\"><div class=\"festival-program__toolbar\"><div class=\"festival-program__toolbar-search\"><label class=\"festival-program__search-label\"><span class=\"festival-program__search-hint\">Search sessions<\/span><input type=\"search\" class=\"festival-program__filter\" autocomplete=\"off\" placeholder=\"Filter by title, host, or description\u2026\" \/><\/label><\/div><div class=\"festival-program__toolbar-days\" role=\"group\" aria-label=\"Expand or collapse all schedule days\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__days-expand-all\">Expand all days<\/button><span class=\"festival-program__toolbar-sep\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\u00b7<\/span><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__days-collapse-all\">Collapse all days<\/button><\/div><\/div><section class=\"festival-program__day\" data-calendar-date=\"2026-05-28\"><h2 class=\"festival-program__day-heading-wrap\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__day-trigger\" id=\"fp-day-h-1-2026-05-28\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-controls=\"fp-day-p-1-2026-05-28\"><span class=\"festival-program__day-title\">Thursday, May 28<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2><div id=\"fp-day-p-1-2026-05-28\" class=\"festival-program__day-panel\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"fp-day-h-1-2026-05-28\"><ul class=\"festival-program__list\"><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"4:00\u00a0pm \u00b7 check-in &amp; badge pick up badge pickup begins at 4:00 pm at the garth portico on the northwest side of washington national cathedral. easily accessible via rideshare\u00a0drop-off at the main roundabout or by parking at the washington national cathedral garage (atlantic parking), 3101 wisconsin ave nw, washington, dc 20016.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-544\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-544\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">4:00\u00a0PM \u00b7 Check-in &amp; Badge Pick Up<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-544\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\">\n<p>Badge pickup begins at 4:00 PM at the Garth Portico on the northwest side of Washington National Cathedral. Easily accessible via rideshare\u00a0drop-off at the main roundabout or by parking at the Washington National Cathedral Garage (Atlantic Parking), 3101 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20016.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"5:00\u20136:30 pm \u00b7 receptions on the cathedral grounds the festival opens with concurrent receptions across the cathedral grounds \u2014 the women\u2019s porch, the garth courtyard, the south apse, and the 7th\u00a0floor \u2014 anchored by jazz from the paul cornish trio. a time to greet, gather, and find your footing before the evening turns inward.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-407\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-407\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">5:00\u20136:30 PM  \u00b7  Receptions on the Cathedral Grounds<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-407\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\">\n<p>The festival opens with concurrent receptions across the Cathedral grounds \u2014 the Women\u2019s Porch, the Garth Courtyard, the South Apse, and the 7th\u00a0Floor \u2014 anchored by jazz from the Paul Cornish Trio. A time to greet, gather, and find your footing before the evening turns inward.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"7:00 pm \u00b7 opening in the nave: what is struggling to be born? the festival opens in the cathedral nave on thursday evening with music, silence, and the question awakening the understory: what, pray tell, is struggling to be born in our time? what follows is a kind of consecration moving between generations, geographies, and ways of seeing \u2014 a sequence of voices held together by the cathedral&#039;s chamber, threaded by light and shadow.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-408\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-408\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">7:00 PM  \u00b7  Opening in the Nave: What is Struggling to be Born?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-408\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\">\n<p>The festival opens in the Cathedral nave on Thursday evening with music, silence, and the question awakening the Understory: What, pray tell, is struggling to be born in our time? What follows is a kind of consecration moving between generations, geographies, and ways of seeing \u2014 a sequence of voices held together by the Cathedral&#8217;s chamber, threaded by light and shadow.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/section><section class=\"festival-program__day\" data-calendar-date=\"2026-05-29\"><h2 class=\"festival-program__day-heading-wrap\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__day-trigger\" id=\"fp-day-h-2-2026-05-29\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-day-p-2-2026-05-29\"><span class=\"festival-program__day-title\">Friday, May 29<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2><div id=\"fp-day-p-2-2026-05-29\" class=\"festival-program__day-panel\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"fp-day-h-2-2026-05-29\" hidden><ul class=\"festival-program__list\"><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"8:00\u20138:45 am \u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0morning prayer (three concurrent options) a laity lodge order of prayer, psalm recitation, and song guide: steven purcell a morning office in the spirit of laity lodge: the psalms recited, the day named, the body of the room joined in song before the work of the festival begins. visio divina via rembrandt and rubens guide: irena draga\u0161 jansen a guided practice of slow, prayerful seeing: two of the great painters of a divided age serve as our teachers in attention, contradiction, and the eye that searches for grace. a meditation on mary guide: margarita mooney clayton a meditation on the woman whose \u201cyes\u201d opens the christian story \u2014 and who has been, across centuries and traditions, a teacher in dependence, courage, and the quiet labor of bearing what is given.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-477\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-477\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">8:00\u20138:45 AM \u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0Morning Prayer (Three Concurrent Options)<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-477\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-1024x391.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-534\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-980x374.jpeg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-480x183.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>A Laity Lodge Order of Prayer, Psalm Recitation, and Song<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Steven Purcell<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A morning office in the spirit of Laity Lodge: the psalms recited, the day named, the body of the room joined in song before the work of the festival begins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#474646\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-spacer gb-block-spacer gb-divider-solid gb-divider-size-1\"><hr style=\"height:30px\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2196\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-557\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-1280x1098.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-980x841.jpg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-480x412.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2560px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>Visio Divina via Rembrandt and Rubens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Irena Draga\u0161 Jansen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A guided practice of slow, prayerful seeing: two of the great painters of a divided age serve as our teachers in attention, contradiction, and the eye that searches for grace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#474646\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-spacer gb-block-spacer gb-divider-solid gb-divider-size-1\"><hr style=\"height:30px\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-536\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-980x547.jpg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-480x268.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>A Meditation on Mary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Margarita Mooney Clayton<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A meditation on the woman whose \u201cyes\u201d opens the Christian story \u2014 and who has been, across centuries and traditions, a teacher in dependence, courage, and the quiet labor of bearing what is given.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"9:00 am\u201310:30 am \u00b7 morning plenary: what is a human? friday morning gathers the room back into the nave to take up the keystone question of the festival&#039;s christian humanist frame: what does it mean to be a human person, and what does the answer ask of us?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-412\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-412\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">9:00 AM\u201310:30 AM  \u00b7  Morning Plenary: What Is a Human?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-412\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Friday morning gathers the room back into the nave to take up the keystone question of the festival&#8217;s Christian humanist frame: what does it mean to be a human person, and what does the answer ask of us?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"10:30 am\u201311:00 am \u00b7 coffee break\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle festival-program__toggle--static\"><div class=\"festival-program__head-static\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">10:30 AM\u201311:00 AM \u00b7 Coffee Break<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"11:00 am \u2013 12:30 pm \u00b7 is now a time to build, or a time to re-found? two longtime friends and public thinkers step to two podiums to argue, without a moderator, the question that sits underneath much of what the festival is testing: is this an hour for repair and renewal of what we have, or for something more like a re-founding? the premise being stress-tested is comment&#039;s own \u2014 that this is a time to build \u2014 and the debate is offered in a spirit of in-house honesty about whether what we are putting forward is sufficient to the depth of the moment.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-414\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-414\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">11:00 AM &#8211; 12:30 PM \u00b7 Is Now a Time to Build, or a Time to Re-Found?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-414\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Two longtime friends and public thinkers step to two podiums to argue, without a moderator, the question that sits underneath much of what the festival is testing: is this an hour for repair and renewal of what we have, or for something more like a re-founding? The premise being stress-tested is <em>Comment<\/em>&#8216;s own \u2014 that this is a time to build \u2014 and the debate is offered in a spirit of in-house honesty about whether what we are putting forward is sufficient to the depth of the moment.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"12:30\u20132:00 pm \u00b7 picnic lunches in small groups outdoors served by breadcoin, to be enjoyed in walker court and on the west lawn.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-415\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-415\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">12:30\u20132:00 PM  \u00b7  Picnic Lunches in Small Groups Outdoors<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-415\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Served by BreadCoin, to be enjoyed in Walker Court and on the West Lawn.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--subsection_heading\" data-search=\"friday, 2:00\u20133:30 pm \u00b7 a time to build: breakout sessions\"><div class=\"festival-program__subsection-heading-block\"><h3 class=\"festival-program__subsection-title festival-program__program-heading--subsection\">Friday, 2:00\u20133:30 PM  \u00b7  A Time to Build: Breakout Sessions<\/h3><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--intro\" data-search=\"beginning at the foundations, literally and figuratively. each session is organized around one animating question: how now shall we build?\"><div class=\"festival-program__program-intro\"><p class=\"festival-program__program-intro-lede\">Beginning at the foundations, literally and figuratively. Each session is organized around one animating question: How now shall we build?<\/p><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"debate \u2014 what is a country? chaired by april lawson and m\u00f3nica guzm\u00e1n at a moment when national identity is being claimed by competing visions of belonging, this town-hall-style debate asks the question underneath the headlines: what holds a country together, and who gets to say? the conversation draws on a rich tradition of argument \u2014 from classic defenses of nationhood as a spiritual and cultural inheritance to warnings that rootedness can curdle into exclusion; from communitarian visions of the self shaped by particular places and loyalties to cosmopolitan challenges that ask whether love of home must mean suspicion of the stranger. participants will wrestle with whether deep roots and open arms are truly at odds, or whether that binary is itself a failure of moral imagination. the format is a facilitated parliamentary debate: anyone in the room may take the mic.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-418\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-418\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Debate \u2014 What Is a Country?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-418\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Chaired by April Lawson and M\u00f3nica Guzm\u00e1n<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>At a moment when national identity is being claimed by competing visions of belonging, this town-hall-style debate asks the question underneath the headlines: What holds a country together, and who gets to say? The conversation draws on a rich tradition of argument \u2014 from classic defenses of nationhood as a spiritual and cultural inheritance to warnings that rootedness can curdle into exclusion; from communitarian visions of the self shaped by particular places and loyalties to cosmopolitan challenges that ask whether love of home must mean suspicion of the stranger. Participants will wrestle with whether deep roots and open arms are truly at odds, or whether that binary is itself a failure of moral imagination. The format is a facilitated parliamentary debate: anyone in the room may take the mic.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"can you build ai that serves human flourishing if you don\u2019t agree on what a human is? hosted by notre dame\u2019s institute for ethics and the common good artificial intelligence is no longer a future prospect. it is remaking work, warfare, medicine, and education in real time. autonomous agents now act with diminishing human oversight, frontier models exhibit behaviors their own creators didn\u2019t anticipate, and the capital pouring into ai infrastructure dwarfs the apollo program and the interstate highway system combined. but for all this momentum, the deepest question remains unanswered: what, if anything, is irreducibly human? and who gets to decide? most of today\u2019s ai ethics conversation hovers around what notre dame philosopher meghan sullivan calls \u201cthe ethical floor\u201d: safety, transparency, fairness. essential, but nowhere near sufficient for a technology this powerful. this panel takes up the harder ground above the floor \u2014 the question of personhood itself, including the genuinely open question of whether the systems we are now building may, in some meaningful sense, be persons too. meghan introduces the delta framework \u2014 dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and agency \u2014 as one faith-informed lens, rooted in the christian tradition but designed to be legible beyond it. from there, four interlocutors from divergent disciplines press the question from their own angles: a researcher building frontier ai systems, a theologian, a philosopher of technology, and an artist. after a morning exploring the imago dei through art, history, and theology, expect serious dialogue, real disagreement, and a refusal to let the technical and the moral be divorced.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-419\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-419\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Can You Build AI That Serves Human Flourishing If You Don&#8217;t Agree on What a Human Is?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-419\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Notre Dame\u2019s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Artificial intelligence is no longer a future prospect. It is remaking work, warfare, medicine, and education in real time. Autonomous agents now act with diminishing human oversight, frontier models exhibit behaviors their own creators didn\u2019t anticipate, and the capital pouring into AI infrastructure dwarfs the Apollo program and the Interstate Highway System combined. But for all this momentum, the deepest question remains unanswered: What, if anything, is irreducibly human? And who gets to decide?<\/p>\n<p>Most of today\u2019s AI ethics conversation hovers around what Notre Dame philosopher Meghan Sullivan calls \u201cthe ethical floor\u201d: safety, transparency, fairness. Essential, but nowhere near sufficient for a technology this powerful. This panel takes up the harder ground above the floor \u2014 the question of personhood itself, including the genuinely open question of whether the systems we are now building may, in some meaningful sense, be persons too. Meghan introduces the DELTA framework \u2014 dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and agency \u2014 as one faith-informed lens, rooted in the Christian tradition but designed to be legible beyond it. From there, four interlocutors from divergent disciplines press the question from their own angles: a researcher building frontier AI systems, a theologian, a philosopher of technology, and an artist. After a morning exploring the imago Dei through art, history, and theology, expect serious dialogue, real disagreement, and a refusal to let the technical and the moral be divorced.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"the truest thing the fewest have believed: welcome to the imago dei hosted by christianstory throughout christian history, the most radical claims about human dignity have come from minority voices within the tradition itself \u2014 from gregory of nyssa to las casas to bonhoeffer \u2014 even as the tradition\u2019s dominant currents often contradicted them. so how is a minority report more true than the actual currents of history? what does it mean that the epistemology of christian revelation does not follow majority rule? and can the classical expressions of imaging god \u2014 reason, creativity, freedom \u2014 be retrieved as central to what it means to be human without reducing dignity to capacity? a specially commissioned fifteen-minute film created by christianstory will be followed by a conversation exploring what this \u201cmystery anthropology\u201d demands of us now \u2014 in a culture fluent in the language of human rights yet unable to say what a human being actually is.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-420\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-420\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">The Truest Thing the Fewest Have Believed: Welcome to the Imago Dei<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-420\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by ChristianStory<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Throughout Christian history, the most radical claims about human dignity have come from minority voices within the tradition itself \u2014 from Gregory of Nyssa to Las Casas to Bonhoeffer \u2014 even as the tradition\u2019s dominant currents often contradicted them. So how is a minority report more true than the actual currents of history? What does it mean that the epistemology of Christian revelation does not follow majority rule? And can the classical expressions of imaging God \u2014 reason, creativity, freedom \u2014 be retrieved as central to what it means to be human without reducing dignity to capacity? A specially commissioned fifteen-minute film created by ChristianStory will be followed by a conversation exploring what this \u201cmystery anthropology\u201d demands of us now \u2014 in a culture fluent in the language of human rights yet unable to say what a human being actually is.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"assistance in dying, assistance in living hosted by rebecca vachon and leonie herx medical assistance in dying is expanding across the west. palliative care is underfunded. and modern medicine has spent a century training its practitioners to see the patient as a machine with broken parts \u2014 what physician brewer eberly has called \u201cthe great unsouling of the patient.\u201d this session sits at the intersection of all three pressures, asking what happens to a culture that has lost the language for suffering, the patience for dying, and the theological nerve to insist that death is not the final word. the conversation draws upon cardus\u2019s research into canada\u2019s maid regime, on efforts to recover the medieval christian tradition of the ars moriendi \u2014 the art of dying well \u2014 and on the frontline witness of chaplains who accompany the dying in our most acute care settings.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-421\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-421\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Assistance in Dying, Assistance in Living<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-421\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Rebecca Vachon and Leonie Herx<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Medical assistance in dying is expanding across the West. Palliative care is underfunded. And modern medicine has spent a century training its practitioners to see the patient as a machine with broken parts \u2014 what physician Brewer Eberly has called \u201cthe great unsouling of the patient.\u201d This session sits at the intersection of all three pressures, asking what happens to a culture that has lost the language for suffering, the patience for dying, and the theological nerve to insist that death is not the final word. The conversation draws upon Cardus\u2019s research into Canada\u2019s MAID regime, on efforts to recover the medieval Christian tradition of the ars moriendi \u2014 the art of dying well \u2014 and on the frontline witness of chaplains who accompany the dying in our most acute care settings.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"from story to policy: can we get unstuck on immigration? hosted by david lapp immigration debates tend to oscillate between abstract policy positions and individual stories conscripted by either side. this community forum tries a different path, opening with personal testimony: what is at the heart of this issue for you, and what experience formed that conviction? then the room pivots from story to remedy: what values are we trying to protect, and what policies might actually move us forward? the format draws on the tradition of structured civic dialogue, and the goal is not consensus but honest encounter \u2014 and a replicable forum model participants can carry back into their own communities.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-422\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-422\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">From Story to Policy: Can We Get Unstuck on Immigration?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-422\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by David Lapp<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Immigration debates tend to oscillate between abstract policy positions and individual stories conscripted by either side. This community forum tries a different path, opening with personal testimony: What is at the heart of this issue for you, and what experience formed that conviction? Then the room pivots from story to remedy: What values are we trying to protect, and what policies might actually move us forward? The format draws on the tradition of structured civic dialogue, and the goal is not consensus but honest encounter \u2014 and a replicable forum model participants can carry back into their own communities.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"politics in the pulpit hosted by rev. david m. bailey \u00b7 with the rev. dr. charlie dates, the rev. dr. walter kim, the rt. rev. mariann edgar budde, and john carr the word \u201cevangelical\u201d is as contested as it has ever been. a bishop\u2019s prayer at an inauguration becomes a national flashpoint. catholic leaders emerge as a voice of public conscience on immigration and war. and in the black church, the pulpit has always carried political weight that white protestantism is only now beginning to reckon with. this ecumenical panel \u2014 representing the black church, evangelical protestantism, the episcopal tradition, and catholic social teaching \u2014 brings four traditions into direct, substantive engagement: not to flatten their differences but to surface where they converge and where they diverge on the weight and responsibility of public theological speech. the question is at once urgent and practical: how does a pastor distinguish biblical conviction from cultural conditioning? how does the church speak to power without becoming its chaplain, and refuse quietism without becoming partisan? held on the west balcony overlooking the nave, steps from where one of these very conversations became a national controversy in january of 2025, the room itself is part of the conversation.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-423\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-423\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Politics in the Pulpit<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-423\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Rev. David M. Bailey \u00b7 With the Rev. Dr. Charlie Dates, the Rev. Dr. Walter Kim, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, and John Carr<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The word \u201cevangelical\u201d is as contested as it has ever been. A bishop\u2019s prayer at an inauguration becomes a national flashpoint. Catholic leaders emerge as a voice of public conscience on immigration and war. And in the Black Church, the pulpit has always carried political weight that white Protestantism is only now beginning to reckon with. This ecumenical panel \u2014 representing the Black Church, evangelical Protestantism, the Episcopal tradition, and Catholic social teaching \u2014 brings four traditions into direct, substantive engagement: not to flatten their differences but to surface where they converge and where they diverge on the weight and responsibility of public theological speech. The question is at once urgent and practical: How does a pastor distinguish biblical conviction from cultural conditioning? How does the church speak to power without becoming its chaplain, and refuse quietism without becoming partisan? Held on the West Balcony overlooking the Nave, steps from where one of these very conversations became a national controversy in January of 2025, the room itself is part of the conversation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"how does a person become real? a conversation between luke burgis and angela duckworth how does a person become real in an age of social contagion? luke burgis has spent years mapping how mimetic desire pulls us into borrowed identities, tribal scripts, and the performance of belief, and how a \u201csolid self\u201d can be forged through differentiation, courage, and communion. angela duckworth approaches the same territory from the other side: how do the people, places, and situations around us bring out capacities we didn\u2019t know we had, or bury them? this is not a panel but a genuine exchange between two thinkers whose work converges on a question the festival has been circling all day: what does it actually take to become a person of depth and discernment in a culture that rewards surfaces and indiscriminate crowds? held in a room where frederick buechner once held literary salons with pastors and fellow writers, this is a fireside conversation in the truest sense.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-424\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-424\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">How Does a Person Become Real?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-424\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">A Conversation between Luke Burgis and Angela Duckworth<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>How does a person become real in an age of social contagion? Luke Burgis has spent years mapping how mimetic desire pulls us into borrowed identities, tribal scripts, and the performance of belief, and how a \u201csolid self\u201d can be forged through differentiation, courage, and communion. Angela Duckworth approaches the same territory from the other side: How do the people, places, and situations around us bring out capacities we didn\u2019t know we had, or bury them? This is not a panel but a genuine exchange between two thinkers whose work converges on a question the festival has been circling all day: What does it actually take to become a person of depth and discernment in a culture that rewards surfaces and indiscriminate crowds? Held in a room where Frederick Buechner once held literary salons with pastors and fellow writers, this is a fireside conversation in the truest sense.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"renewal and the academy: reimagining scholarship and academic life hosted by shirley hoogstra colleges and universities, churches, schools and non-profit institutions are not only centers of knowledge production; they are formative communities that shape the habits, aspirations, and moral imagination of generations. institutional leaders\u2014pastors, presidents, provosts, and senior administrators\u2014occupy a unique role in stewarding these communities amid immense pressures: financial strain, political polarization, shifting student expectations, and questions about the very purpose of educational institutions. drawing on the vision articulated in the comment manifesto this session explores what it might mean to lead institutions with a renewed sense of cultural and moral responsibility. if universities, schools and churches are part of the \u201cunderstory\u201d of society\u2014quietly shaping the soil from which future leadership and culture grow\u2014then institutional leadership becomes a form of stewardship. this conversation invites leaders to reflect on how institutional strategy, campus culture, and public engagement might embody a richer understanding of the educator&#039;s role in sustaining a flourishing society.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-425\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-425\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Renewal and the Academy: Reimagining Scholarship and Academic Life<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-425\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Shirley Hoogstra<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Colleges and universities, churches, schools and non-profit institutions are not only centers of knowledge production; they are formative communities that shape the habits, aspirations, and moral imagination of generations. Institutional leaders\u2014pastors, presidents, provosts, and senior administrators\u2014occupy a unique role in stewarding these communities amid immense pressures: financial strain, political polarization, shifting student expectations, and questions about the very purpose of educational institutions. Drawing on the vision articulated in the <a style=\"color: #cca076;\" href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/manifesto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Comment<\/em> Manifesto<\/a> this session explores what it might mean to lead institutions with a renewed sense of cultural and moral responsibility. If universities, schools and churches are part of the \u201cunderstory\u201d of society\u2014quietly shaping the soil from which future leadership and culture grow\u2014then institutional leadership becomes a form of stewardship. This conversation invites leaders to reflect on how institutional strategy, campus culture, and public engagement might embody a richer understanding of the educator&#8217;s role in sustaining a flourishing society.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"beyond the binary: rehumanizing the abortion conversation hosted by angela weszely few issues have calcified the categories of american public life more thoroughly than abortion. \u201cpro-life\u201d and \u201cpro-choice\u201d have become tribal markers as much as moral positions, and christians who feel the inadequacy of both labels often simply go quiet. this interactive workshop asks what becomes possible when we step outside the political frame entirely: examining the assumptions, cultural narratives, and moral reflexes that shape how christians engage this question before anyone reaches for legislation or slogans. the format is intentionally intimate: a brief theological framing followed by guided conversation designed to evoke honest complexity rather than rehearse familiar positions.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-426\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-426\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Beyond the Binary: Rehumanizing the Abortion Conversation<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-426\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Angela Weszely<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Few issues have calcified the categories of American public life more thoroughly than abortion. \u201cPro-life\u201d and \u201cpro-choice\u201d have become tribal markers as much as moral positions, and Christians who feel the inadequacy of both labels often simply go quiet. This interactive workshop asks what becomes possible when we step outside the political frame entirely: examining the assumptions, cultural narratives, and moral reflexes that shape how Christians engage this question before anyone reaches for legislation or slogans. The format is intentionally intimate: a brief theological framing followed by guided conversation designed to evoke honest complexity rather than rehearse familiar positions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"what minneapolis revealed about the understory minneapolis has been tending a particular kind of civic soil for decades. beginning in the 1980s, congregations across the twin cities and across denominational lines built sustained networks of welcome and care for central americans fleeing civil war, then for successive waves of newcomers from somalia, southeast asia, and beyond. that fabric, tended again in the summer of 2020, held when crisis came this past january. this session explores what happens when community renewal meets crisis, pairing stories from minneapolis with decades of evidence from intentional neighboring movements elsewhere, where sustained local investment has measurably reduced crime, improved health outcomes, and rebuilt civic trust. the conversation presses the most important question: can what emerges organically in moments of crisis be cultivated deliberately?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-427\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-427\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">What Minneapolis Revealed About the Understory<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-427\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Minneapolis has been tending a particular kind of civic soil for decades. Beginning in the 1980s, congregations across the Twin Cities and across denominational lines built sustained networks of welcome and care for Central Americans fleeing civil war, then for successive waves of newcomers from Somalia, Southeast Asia, and beyond. That fabric, tended again in the summer of 2020, held when crisis came this past January. This session explores what happens when community renewal meets crisis, pairing stories from Minneapolis with decades of evidence from intentional neighboring movements elsewhere, where sustained local investment has measurably reduced crime, improved health outcomes, and rebuilt civic trust. The conversation presses the most important question: Can what emerges organically in moments of crisis be cultivated deliberately?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"after the cameras leave: rebuilding after disaster hosted by pancho arg\u00fcelles and richard yale when the first responders leave and the cameras move on, what remains is the long, unglamorous labor of learning to live again in a place that has had its former life decimated. two practitioners who have stayed inside that labor convene this workshop: the rev. richard yale, who has been shepherding paradise, california through the nearly eight years since the camp fire burned 19,000 structures to the ground and displaced a community; and pancho arg\u00fcelles, longtime director of houston\u2019s living hope wheelchair association and now with the praxis project, who has spent his working life alongside communities for whom the question of what gets rebuilt and who gets forgotten has never been abstract. between them they carry the pastor\u2019s sustained presence and the organizer\u2019s acompa\u00f1amiento \u2014 the practice of walking with \u2014 and a shared conviction that the questions worth asking after disaster are rarely the ones our mainstream policy literature is structured to answer. each will arrive with a top-ten list of hard-won learnings \u2014 what to do, what to avoid, and where faith and community have proved decisive in the long aftermath. time will be built in for participants to surface the questions they carry from their own contexts before the conversation moves outside for further small-group discussion. what does repair look like on a timescale measured in decades rather than news cycles? who belongs to the rebuilt place, and on whose terms? and how do we build systems of repair that honor the dignity of the people living through catastrophe, not just the urgency of the crisis?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-428\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-428\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">After the Cameras Leave: Rebuilding After Disaster<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-428\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Pancho Arg\u00fcelles and Richard Yale<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>When the first responders leave and the cameras move on, what remains is the long, unglamorous labor of learning to live again in a place that has had its former life decimated. Two practitioners who have stayed inside that labor convene this workshop: the Rev. Richard Yale, who has been shepherding Paradise, California through the nearly eight years since the Camp Fire burned 19,000 structures to the ground and displaced a community; and Pancho Arg\u00fcelles, longtime director of Houston\u2019s Living Hope Wheelchair Association and now with The Praxis Project, who has spent his working life alongside communities for whom the question of what gets rebuilt and who gets forgotten has never been abstract. Between them they carry the pastor\u2019s sustained presence and the organizer\u2019s acompa\u00f1amiento \u2014 the practice of walking with \u2014 and a shared conviction that the questions worth asking after disaster are rarely the ones our mainstream policy literature is structured to answer. Each will arrive with a top-ten list of hard-won learnings \u2014 what to do, what to avoid, and where faith and community have proved decisive in the long aftermath. Time will be built in for participants to surface the questions they carry from their own contexts before the conversation moves outside for further small-group discussion. What does repair look like on a timescale measured in decades rather than news cycles? Who belongs to the rebuilt place, and on whose terms? And how do we build systems of repair that honor the dignity of the people living through catastrophe, not just the urgency of the crisis?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"will national service ever be possible? hosted by scott cooper and gregg petersmeyer the very idea of national service is fighting for survival. americorps is funded but under siege. the political constituency that once made service bipartisan has fragmented, and the conversations about a bigger vision have circled the same rooms for decades without maturing into action. and yet: labor markets are in upheaval, young americans are hungrier for shared purpose than at any point in recent memory, and the question of what citizenship actually requires of the body, not just the ballot, has never been more urgent. this session gathers unlikely allies to ask whether the current disruptions might create an opening that decades of advocacy never could. the goal is not a policy seminar but fresh oxygen: the beginning of a post-partisan coalition willing to carry the idea forward.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-429\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-429\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Will National Service Ever Be Possible?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-429\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Scott Cooper and Gregg Petersmeyer<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The very idea of national service is fighting for survival. AmeriCorps is funded but under siege. The political constituency that once made service bipartisan has fragmented, and the conversations about a bigger vision have circled the same rooms for decades without maturing into action. And yet: labor markets are in upheaval, young Americans are hungrier for shared purpose than at any point in recent memory, and the question of what citizenship actually requires of the body, not just the ballot, has never been more urgent. This session gathers unlikely allies to ask whether the current disruptions might create an opening that decades of advocacy never could. The goal is not a policy seminar but fresh oxygen: the beginning of a post-partisan coalition willing to carry the idea forward.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"peacebuilding as core competency hosted by fuller theological seminary the work of holding relationships, accountability, and trust under institutional pressure is one of the most consequential \u2014 and least systematically taught \u2014 competencies in leadership today. the christian tradition has long named peacemakers as bearers of a particular vocation; this session asks what it would mean to treat that vocation as a craft, with the rigor and formation we bring to any other core leadership skill. moving past inspiration toward equipping, the conversation will explore practical tools for conflict, accountability, truth-telling, and durable relationships in high-stakes institutional settings. the question underneath: what does it mean to treat peacebuilding not as a niche specialty but as a core leadership competency, as fundamental as organizational culture or strategic vision?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-430\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-430\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Peacebuilding as Core Competency<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-430\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Fuller Theological Seminary<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The work of holding relationships, accountability, and trust under institutional pressure is one of the most consequential \u2014 and least systematically taught \u2014 competencies in leadership today. The Christian tradition has long named peacemakers as bearers of a particular vocation; this session asks what it would mean to treat that vocation as a craft, with the rigor and formation we bring to any other core leadership skill. Moving past inspiration toward equipping, the conversation will explore practical tools for conflict, accountability, truth-telling, and durable relationships in high-stakes institutional settings. The question underneath: What does it mean to treat peacebuilding not as a niche specialty but as a core leadership competency, as fundamental as organizational culture or strategic vision?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"across the lines: how rubens, rembrandt, and the rachels created through a shattered age hosted by irena draga\u0161 jansen during a particularly unsettling time in history, at the intersection of ripples created by the protestant reformation and the catholic church reform, these artists forged a way to create and collaborate across divisions and amidst imposed boundaries, focusing the viewer\u2019s eye on the ancient of days. can we learn from them about what it takes to resist the antagonism of polarization, work within and outside institutions, accept our human limitations, and embrace hope?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-431\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-431\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Across the Lines: How Rubens, Rembrandt, and the Rachels Created Through a Shattered Age<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-431\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Irena Draga\u0161 Jansen<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>During a particularly unsettling time in history, at the intersection of ripples created by the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Church Reform, these artists forged a way to create and collaborate across divisions and amidst imposed boundaries, focusing the viewer\u2019s eye on the Ancient of Days. Can we learn from them about what it takes to resist the antagonism of polarization, work within and outside institutions, accept our human limitations, and embrace hope?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"hitler, jesus, and the moral formation awaiting us lecture by alec ryrie who is the most potent moral figure in our culture \u2014 the one human symbol by which we know good from evil? a century ago, historian alec ryrie argues, the answer would have been jesus christ. for most of the past eighty years, it has been adolf hitler. in this lecture, ryrie will trace the moral consensus built atop that defining trauma, a consensus that has held longer than its makers could have imagined and is now, audibly, fraying. what might come next? what virtues will this century require that anti-nazi values cannot supply on their own?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-432\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-432\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Hitler, Jesus, and the Moral Formation Awaiting Us<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-432\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Lecture by Alec Ryrie<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Who is the most potent moral figure in our culture \u2014 the one human symbol by which we know good from evil? A century ago, historian Alec Ryrie argues, the answer would have been Jesus Christ. For most of the past eighty years, it has been Adolf Hitler. In this lecture, Ryrie will trace the moral consensus built atop that defining trauma, a consensus that has held longer than its makers could have imagined and is now, audibly, fraying. What might come next? What virtues will this century require that anti-Nazi values cannot supply on their own?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"cultivating redemptive imagination hosted by arrabon \u00b7 at kerry james marshall&#039;s &quot;now and forever&quot; windows a guided practice of visio divina at the windows that recently replaced confederate iconography in the cathedral with a vision of justice and healing. slow seeing as a form of reckoning, and reconciliation as spiritual formation rather than public performance.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-433\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-433\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Cultivating Redemptive Imagination<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-433\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Arrabon \u00b7 At Kerry James Marshall&#039;s &quot;Now and Forever&quot; windows<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A guided practice of Visio Divina at the windows that recently replaced Confederate iconography in the Cathedral with a vision of justice and healing. Slow seeing as a form of reckoning, and reconciliation as spiritual formation rather than public performance.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"cathedral tour led by dr. terri lynn simpson and amanda iglesias a guided pilgrimage through the cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. friday&#039;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. on saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. in all tours special attention will be given to the cathedral&#039;s west front and frederick hart\u2019s controversial facade.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-554\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-554\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Cathedral Tour<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-554\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Led by Dr. Terri Lynn Simpson and Amanda Iglesias<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A guided pilgrimage through the Cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. Friday&#8217;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the Cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. On Saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. In all tours special attention will be given to the Cathedral&#8217;s west front and Frederick Hart\u2019s controversial facade.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"the welcome table: hospitality as a way of life hosted by gregory thompson gregory thompson is a writer, chef, creative director, and captain of comment\u2019s welcome table column. his life\u2019s work circles a single question: how can the church embrace its vocation to build longer tables instead of higher walls? this workshop is intimate and participatory: come prepared to discuss hospitality, to prepare food together, and, of course, to partake of something lovely. this session is limited to twelve participants.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-439\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-439\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">The Welcome Table: Hospitality as a Way of Life<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-439\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Gregory Thompson<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Gregory Thompson is a writer, chef, creative director, and captain of <em>Comment\u2019s<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/columns\/the-welcome-table\/\">Welcome Table<\/a> column. His life\u2019s work circles a single question: How can the church embrace its vocation to build longer tables instead of higher walls? This workshop is intimate and participatory: come prepared to discuss hospitality, to prepare food together, and, of course, to partake of something lovely. This session is limited to twelve participants.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--subsection_heading\" data-search=\"friday, 4:00\u20135:00 pm \u00b7 explore and encounter\"><div class=\"festival-program__subsection-heading-block\"><h3 class=\"festival-program__subsection-title festival-program__program-heading--subsection\">Friday, 4:00\u20135:00 PM  \u00b7  Explore and Encounter<\/h3><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--intro\" data-search=\"a curated expanse of experiences that form people not primarily through argument but through attention, humility, and discovery.\"><div class=\"festival-program__program-intro\"><p class=\"festival-program__program-intro-lede\">A curated expanse of experiences that form people not primarily through argument but through attention, humility, and discovery.<\/p><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"attending to the forest\u2019s understory a guided walk through olmsted woods and the pilgrim way if the festival borrows its name from a forester\u2019s world, this session steps into it. for forty years richard ubbens has tended the real understory as toronto\u2019s director of forestry, later director of parks, and now director of conservation parks and lands at the toronto and region conservation authority, whose jurisdiction stewards the watersheds and green spaces of roughly five million people. come walk with him through olmsted woods and the pilgrim way for an hour of practiced attention to what is alive beneath our feet: the root networks and memory of the forest, the microclimate it holds, the biodiversity slowest to reveal itself to those who are not looking. be ready to be surprised by what a lifetime of looking closely at trees might teach a people learning, again, how to see.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-436\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-436\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Attending to the Forest\u2019s Understory<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-436\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A guided walk through Olmsted Woods and the Pilgrim Way<\/p>\n<p>If the festival borrows its name from a forester\u2019s world, this session steps into it. For forty years Richard Ubbens has tended the real understory as Toronto\u2019s Director of Forestry, later Director of Parks, and now Director of Conservation Parks and Lands at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, whose jurisdiction stewards the watersheds and green spaces of roughly five million people. Come walk with him through Olmsted Woods and the Pilgrim Way for an hour of practiced attention to what is alive beneath our feet: the root networks and memory of the forest, the microclimate it holds, the biodiversity slowest to reveal itself to those who are not looking. Be ready to be surprised by what a lifetime of looking closely at trees might teach a people learning, again, how to see.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"culture care: making and mending curated by esther mun come make something with your hands in esther mun&#039;s &quot;gather sessions,&quot; three concurrent art practices led by three artists. participants sign up for one of three intimate, hands-on sessions: modern kintsugi (the japanese art of mending broken things with gold), avatar painting (self-portraiture through symbol) and mark making. each is a quiet pedagogy of encounter, a chance to slow down, pay attention, and create alongside strangers. no experience required. the only prerequisite is willingness to sit with imperfection.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-437\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-437\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Culture Care: Making and Mending<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-437\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Curated by Esther Mun<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Come make something with your hands in Esther Mun&#8217;s &#8220;Gather Sessions,&#8221; three concurrent art practices led by three artists. Participants sign up for one of three intimate, hands-on sessions: Modern Kintsugi (the Japanese art of mending broken things with gold), Avatar Painting (self-portraiture through symbol) and Mark Making. Each is a quiet pedagogy of encounter, a chance to slow down, pay attention, and create alongside strangers. No experience required. The only prerequisite is willingness to sit with imperfection.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"learning from the mystics hosted by lisa shirk a wave of attention seems to be cresting around the mystics of the ages: how they prayed and how they saw, how they loved and let themselves be wounded. this session begins with a painting installed especially for the understory, which participants will encounter in quiet and conversation with its artist. from there, testimony, and a question pointed at your own life: what might a ritual of communal contemplation and action look like in your neighborhood?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-438\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-438\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Learning from the Mystics<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-438\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Lisa Shirk<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A wave of attention seems to be cresting around the mystics of the ages: how they prayed and how they saw, how they loved and let themselves be wounded. This session begins with a painting installed especially for the Understory, which participants will encounter in quiet and conversation with its artist. From there, testimony, and a question pointed at your own life: what might a ritual of communal contemplation and action look like in your neighborhood?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"arts &amp; patronage: in search of new models hosted by david m. bailey, roberta ahmanson, makoto fujimura, and haejin fujimura the institutions that once made serious artistic work possible have largely thinned, fragmented, or given way to the logic of the market. what rises in their place, and on what foundations, is one of the more consequential cultural questions of our moment, and one the artists, patrons, and institution-builders gathered for this session have been working out in practice for years. the questions on the table are concrete: what did patrons in earlier eras believe they were responsible for \u2014 not only in funding works of art, but in shaping the worlds people lived inside? where has art or patronage become transactional in ways that quietly diminish people and places? what kinds of people is our current system forming, and what does it actually require \u2014 of trust, risk, and time, on both sides of the relationship \u2014 to move from transaction to stewardship? and what world becomes possible when artists, patrons, and communities give themselves not to consuming or even funding beauty, but to cultivating it?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-440\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-440\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Arts &#038; Patronage: In Search of New Models<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-440\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by David M. Bailey, Roberta Ahmanson, Makoto Fujimura, and Haejin Fujimura<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The institutions that once made serious artistic work possible have largely thinned, fragmented, or given way to the logic of the market. What rises in their place, and on what foundations, is one of the more consequential cultural questions of our moment, and one the artists, patrons, and institution-builders gathered for this session have been working out in practice for years. The questions on the table are concrete: What did patrons in earlier eras believe they were responsible for \u2014 not only in funding works of art, but in shaping the worlds people lived inside? Where has art or patronage become transactional in ways that quietly diminish people and places? What kinds of people is our current system forming, and what does it actually require \u2014 of trust, risk, and time, on both sides of the relationship \u2014 to move from transaction to stewardship? And what world becomes possible when artists, patrons, and communities give themselves not to consuming or even funding beauty, but to cultivating it?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"writers in the round: a porter\u2019s gate hour hosted by porter\u2019s gate if you\u2019ve ever dreamed of a seat at nashville\u2019s bluebird cafe, imagine something even rarer: porter\u2019s gate musicians gathered in the round in the cathedral\u2019s most unusual room \u2014 a circular, womb-like chapel in the crypt with a grand piano and acoustics built for prayer \u2014 to jam, improvise, and co-write. watch the creative process unfold in real time. taste what happens when the theology of worship meets the mystery of how sound shapes both mind and soul. audience members will be witnesses and, at moments, collaborators.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-441\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-441\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Writers in the Round: A Porter\u2019s Gate Hour<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-441\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Porter\u2019s Gate<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>If you\u2019ve ever dreamed of a seat at Nashville\u2019s Bluebird Cafe, imagine something even rarer: Porter\u2019s Gate musicians gathered in the round in the Cathedral\u2019s most unusual room \u2014 a circular, womb-like chapel in the crypt with a grand piano and acoustics built for prayer \u2014 to jam, improvise, and co-write. Watch the creative process unfold in real time. Taste what happens when the theology of worship meets the mystery of how sound shapes both mind and soul. Audience members will be witnesses and, at moments, collaborators.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"personal grief, civic grief, and the seeds of renewal led by eric liu and oskar eustis \u00b7 in the contemplative circle of olmsted woods grief is not only private. communities grieve too: the loss of shared meaning, the collapse of trust, the slow erosion of the places and institutions that once held us. eric liu, the civic evangelist who founded citizen university, and oskar eustis, who runs the public theater and has spent a career insisting that democracy requires rehearsal, lead a small group through the connection between personal loss and civic renewal. in the contemplative circle of the cathedral\u2019s old-growth olmsted woods, the question is whether lament can become the soil of something new.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-442\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-442\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Personal Grief, Civic Grief, and the Seeds of Renewal<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-442\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Led by Eric Liu and Oskar Eustis \u00b7 In the contemplative circle of Olmsted Woods<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Grief is not only private. Communities grieve too: the loss of shared meaning, the collapse of trust, the slow erosion of the places and institutions that once held us. Eric Liu, the civic evangelist who founded Citizen University, and Oskar Eustis, who runs the Public Theater and has spent a career insisting that democracy requires rehearsal, lead a small group through the connection between personal loss and civic renewal. In the contemplative circle of the Cathedral\u2019s old-growth Olmsted Woods, the question is whether lament can become the soil of something new.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"acceleration, resonance, and a rule of life for individuals and for organizations hosted by steve lawson it may be that the defining condition of late modernity is not acceleration itself but what acceleration destroys: resonance \u2014 the experience of being addressed by the world and able to respond, of feeling that our work, our relationships, and even our suffering actually land somewhere. this session asks what those conditions actually look like in practice, drawing on the quiet genius of practitioners who have already built their answer: teams running urban ministries whose staff rhythms of devotion and discernment make it possible to answer the phone at 2:00 a.m.; designers of modern rules of life for people who will never live inside monastery walls; and theologians pressing the case that resonance is not a lifestyle preference but the church\u2019s deepest offering. what daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms can restore resonance \u2014 not as retreat from the world but as preparation to enter it with the full capacity to be changed by what we find there?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-443\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-443\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Acceleration, Resonance, and a Rule of Life for Individuals and for Organizations<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-443\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Steve Lawson<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>It may be that the defining condition of late modernity is not acceleration itself but what acceleration destroys: resonance \u2014 the experience of being addressed by the world and able to respond, of feeling that our work, our relationships, and even our suffering actually land somewhere. This session asks what those conditions actually look like in practice, drawing on the quiet genius of practitioners who have already built their answer: teams running urban ministries whose staff rhythms of devotion and discernment make it possible to answer the phone at 2:00 a.m.; designers of modern rules of life for people who will never live inside monastery walls; and theologians pressing the case that resonance is not a lifestyle preference but the church\u2019s deepest offering. What daily, weekly, and seasonal rhythms can restore resonance \u2014 not as retreat from the world but as preparation to enter it with the full capacity to be changed by what we find there?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"small magazines as humanist hubs hosted by doug sikkema small magazines have often been the seedbeds of cultural change: the places where language gets tested, arguments get sharpened, and communities of thought take root before they flower in the wider culture. but the tradition is older and more urgent than even its practitioners sometimes remember. from the republic of letters to eighteenth-century coffeehouses to the little magazines of the harlem renaissance and the postwar period, this is a lineage of people who believed that writing for each other, in public, was how human beings did their best thinking. in a moment when ai can generate passable essays on demand, the question is no longer just whether small magazines can survive but whether the kind of human intellectual community they represent will survive. this session gathers editors and writers from across the magazine ecosystem for a shared conversation: how do publications like ours speak a shared language in our own accents? continues informally into the 5:00 happy hour.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-444\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-444\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Small Magazines as Humanist Hubs<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-444\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Doug Sikkema<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Small magazines have often been the seedbeds of cultural change: the places where language gets tested, arguments get sharpened, and communities of thought take root before they flower in the wider culture. But the tradition is older and more urgent than even its practitioners sometimes remember. From the Republic of Letters to eighteenth-century coffeehouses to the little magazines of the Harlem Renaissance and the postwar period, this is a lineage of people who believed that writing for each other, in public, was how human beings did their best thinking. In a moment when AI can generate passable essays on demand, the question is no longer just whether small magazines can survive but whether the kind of human intellectual community they represent will survive. This session gathers editors and writers from across the magazine ecosystem for a shared conversation: How do publications like ours speak a shared language in our own accents? Continues informally into the 5:00 happy hour.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"does a humanism that endures need religion? hosted by dan cardinali and sam kimbriel beneath hildreth mei\u00e8re&#039;s mosaic of the risen christ, the title names a genuine question, not a settled one: can humanism sustain itself without transcendent roots, or does the dignity of the person require a story larger than the human? a salon to press the question with the seriousness it deserves.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-445\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-445\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Does a Humanism That Endures Need Religion?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-445\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Dan Cardinali and Sam Kimbriel<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Beneath Hildreth Mei\u00e8re&#8217;s mosaic of the risen Christ, the title names a genuine question, not a settled one: can humanism sustain itself without transcendent roots, or does the dignity of the person require a story larger than the human? A salon to press the question with the seriousness it deserves.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"bearing one another: dependency, care, and interdependence hosted by leah libresco sargeant, mary ellen mitchell, and sara hendren a culture bent on mastery has little patience for vulnerability, yet every human life begins and ends in dependence. in her new book the dignity of dependence: a feminist manifesto, leah libresco sargeant argues that mutual need is not the shadow of human life but its very shape \u2014 that flourishing requires webs of dependence rather than the corrosive ideal of the person-as-strongest-alone, and that we are &quot;lovable even when we can&#039;t pay back the love we receive.&quot; mary ellen mitchell, co-founder and co-director of lydia&#039;s house \u2014 a catholic worker home for women and children in cincinnati \u2014 has spent more than a decade embodying that claim in brick and practice: a community that treats congregate living not as a deficiency to be outgrown but as a formation in mutuality, and that has come to see america&#039;s romance with the single-family home as a quiet catechesis in fear, affluence, and exclusion. alongside sara hendren&#039;s design-and-disability lens and the sociologist hartmut rosa&#039;s work on the limits of human control, this session asks what it means to receive new life, new limitation, and new need in a world that treats control as the highest virtue \u2014 and whether interdependence is a problem to be solved or a gift to be received.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-446\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-446\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Bearing One Another: Dependency, Care, and Interdependence<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-446\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Leah Libresco Sargeant, Mary Ellen Mitchell, and Sara Hendren<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A culture bent on mastery has little patience for vulnerability, yet every human life begins and ends in dependence. In her new book <em>The Dignity of Dependence: A Feminist Manifesto<\/em>, Leah Libresco Sargeant argues that mutual need is not the shadow of human life but its very shape \u2014 that flourishing requires webs of dependence rather than the corrosive ideal of the person-as-strongest-alone, and that we are &#8220;lovable even when we can&#8217;t pay back the love we receive.&#8221; Mary Ellen Mitchell, co-founder and co-director of Lydia&#8217;s House \u2014 a Catholic Worker home for women and children in Cincinnati \u2014 has spent more than a decade embodying that claim in brick and practice: a community that treats congregate living not as a deficiency to be outgrown but as a formation in mutuality, and that has come to see America&#8217;s romance with the single-family home as a quiet catechesis in fear, affluence, and exclusion. Alongside Sara Hendren&#8217;s design-and-disability lens and the sociologist Hartmut Rosa&#8217;s work on the limits of human control, this session asks what it means to receive new life, new limitation, and new need in a world that treats control as the highest virtue \u2014 and whether interdependence is a problem to be solved or a gift to be received.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"the courage to speak, the courage to listen hosted by christopher domig and mark lewis a workshop for anyone called into challenging rooms: bridge builders, mediators, facilitators, and those asked to show up when trust is fragile and stories carry real weight. through guided conversation and shared theatrical practice, participants will explore what it means to value a story before judging it, to speak with honesty and responsibility, and to hold the tension of the room without resolving it prematurely.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-447\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-447\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">The Courage to Speak, the Courage to Listen<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-447\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Christopher Domig and Mark Lewis<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A workshop for anyone called into challenging rooms: bridge builders, mediators, facilitators, and those asked to show up when trust is fragile and stories carry real weight. Through guided conversation and shared theatrical practice, participants will explore what it means to value a story before judging it, to speak with honesty and responsibility, and to hold the tension of the room without resolving it prematurely.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"where does beauty surprise us in our work? hosted by brandon vaidyanathan sociologist brandon vaidyanathan has spent the past several years investigating where beauty shows up in domains we rarely think of in aesthetic terms: in scientific laboratories, office buildings, and the ordinary rhythms of vocation. what becomes possible when we try to name exactly where it shows up, and try to trace why? this is a workshop inviting you to reflect aloud with others on the ways in which beauty moves or fails to move in your organization and vocation. held on the women\u2019s porch in the golden hour, the session is a chance to take the festival\u2019s questions about building and calling and test them against the texture of our actual days.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-448\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-448\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Where Does Beauty Surprise Us in Our Work?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-448\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Brandon Vaidyanathan<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan has spent the past several years investigating where beauty shows up in domains we rarely think of in aesthetic terms: in scientific laboratories, office buildings, and the ordinary rhythms of vocation. What becomes possible when we try to name exactly where it shows up, and try to trace why? This is a workshop inviting you to reflect aloud with others on the ways in which beauty moves or fails to move in your organization and vocation. Held on the Women\u2019s Porch in the golden hour, the session is a chance to take the festival\u2019s questions about building and calling and test them against the texture of our actual days.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"motherhood, natality, and the future of the world hosted by chine mcdonald motherhood is often framed as private, domestic, even invisible \u2014 and yet it is one of the most profoundly political and world-shaping experiences we have. as hannah arendt suggested in her idea of natality, each birth represents not only a new life, but the possibility of a new beginning for the world itself. in an age marked by declining birth rates, shifting ideas of nationhood, and deep global instability, what does it mean to bring new life into being? how do mothers participate in the making of citizens, cultures, and futures; and how are they shaped, constrained, or overlooked by the political and economic orders around them? this panel brings together leading thinkers to reimagine motherhood at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and public life \u2014 a rich and searching discussion on motherhood as a site of renewal, risk, and responsibility in a fragile world.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-449\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-449\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Motherhood, Natality, and the Future of the World<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-449\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Chine McDonald<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Motherhood is often framed as private, domestic, even invisible \u2014 and yet it is one of the most profoundly political and world-shaping experiences we have. As Hannah Arendt suggested in her idea of natality, each birth represents not only a new life, but the possibility of a new beginning for the world itself. In an age marked by declining birth rates, shifting ideas of nationhood, and deep global instability, what does it mean to bring new life into being? How do mothers participate in the making of citizens, cultures, and futures; and how are they shaped, constrained, or overlooked by the political and economic orders around them? This panel brings together leading thinkers to reimagine motherhood at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and public life \u2014 a rich and searching discussion on motherhood as a site of renewal, risk, and responsibility in a fragile world.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"film premiere: the quilters directed by jen mcshane, in conversation with rita radostitz inside a prison sewing room, a group of incarcerated men design, cut, stitch, and bind personalized quilts for children in foster care, matching bright colors, sports teams, and favorite animals to each child\u2019s interests. what unfolds is more than a craft project. the quilters quietly reveals the dignity, tenderness, and moral imagination that can persist in even the most restrictive environments. as the men work, learning precision, patience, and collaboration, they reflect on their own lives, regrets, and hopes. a post-screening conversation asks what justice looks like when it begins not with punishment but with tenderness, and what our systems might learn from men who, given needle and thread, chose to make something for a child they would never meet.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-450\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-450\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Film Premiere: The Quilters<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-450\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Directed by Jen McShane, in conversation with Rita Radostitz<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Inside a prison sewing room, a group of incarcerated men design, cut, stitch, and bind personalized quilts for children in foster care, matching bright colors, sports teams, and favorite animals to each child\u2019s interests. What unfolds is more than a craft project. The Quilters quietly reveals the dignity, tenderness, and moral imagination that can persist in even the most restrictive environments. As the men work, learning precision, patience, and collaboration, they reflect on their own lives, regrets, and hopes. A post-screening conversation asks what justice looks like when it begins not with punishment but with tenderness, and what our systems might learn from men who, given needle and thread, chose to make something for a child they would never meet.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"cathedral tour led by dr. terri lynn simpson and amanda iglesias a guided pilgrimage through the cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. friday&#039;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. on saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. in all tours special attention will be given to the cathedral&#039;s west front and frederick hart\u2019s controversial facade.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-451\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-451\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Cathedral Tour<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-451\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Led by Dr. Terri Lynn Simpson and Amanda Iglesias<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A guided pilgrimage through the Cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. Friday&#8217;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the Cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. On Saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. In all tours special attention will be given to the Cathedral&#8217;s west front and Frederick Hart\u2019s controversial facade.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"deep roots versus open arms: must they be at war? this festival is built on the conviction that the deep-roots-versus-open-arms binary, however cleanly it may be sorting our politics at present, is as much a failure of imagination as it is a dishonest reflection on the texture of those people and places that have most powerfully formed us. the dominant story right now tells us we must choose: either thick belonging, particular inheritance, and the texture of a tradition that knows its own; or hospitality, openness, but a loss of particularity, roots, and moral conviction. each side accuses the other of betraying something essential. but the deepest sources of the christian tradition refuse the trade. so let\u2019s probe together: what are the inheritances worth nurturing and passing on to the next generation? what would it take for the thick we\u2019s of theological traditions, cultural inheritances, formation in a particular political tradition, and more to actually embody the both\/and in the lived reality of institutional practice? and where do our open-armed we\u2019s tend to thin out into nothing-in-particular, while our deeply rooted we\u2019s tend to harden into closed systems?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-452\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-452\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Deep Roots versus Open Arms: Must They Be at War?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-452\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>This festival is built on the conviction that the deep-roots-versus-open-arms binary, however cleanly it may be sorting our politics at present, is as much a failure of imagination as it is a dishonest reflection on the texture of those people and places that have most powerfully formed us. The dominant story right now tells us we must choose: either thick belonging, particular inheritance, and the texture of a tradition that knows its own; or hospitality, openness, but a loss of particularity, roots, and moral conviction. Each side accuses the other of betraying something essential. But the deepest sources of the Christian tradition refuse the trade. So let\u2019s probe together: What are the inheritances worth nurturing and passing on to the next generation? What would it take for the thick we\u2019s of theological traditions, cultural inheritances, formation in a particular political tradition, and more to actually embody the both\/and in the lived reality of institutional practice? And where do our open-armed we\u2019s tend to thin out into nothing-in-particular, while our deeply rooted we\u2019s tend to harden into closed systems?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--subsection_heading\" data-search=\"friday evening, 5:00-11:30 pm\"><div class=\"festival-program__subsection-heading-block\"><h3 class=\"festival-program__subsection-title festival-program__program-heading--subsection\">Friday Evening, 5:00-11:30 PM<\/h3><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"5:00-7:00 pm \u00b7 free time and dinner in small groups for general attendees, enjoy free time or grab dinner with a few new and old friends at the many restaurants within a 15-minute walk or quick cab ride. this is not a formal understory event, and we encourage groups to self-gather and go a little deeper in conversation. for patrons, breakout leaders, and speakers, an optional, informal comment supper is being offered. to attend, please select this from your breakout options.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-453\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-453\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">5:00-7:00 PM  \u00b7  Free Time and Dinner in Small Groups<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-453\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p class=\"s11\"><span class=\"s7\">For general attendees, enjoy free time or grab dinner with a few new and old friends at the many restaurants within a 15-minute walk or quick cab ride. This is not a formal Understory event, and we encourage groups to self-gather and go a little deeper in conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s11\">For patrons, breakout leaders, and speakers, an optional, informal Comment Supper is being offered. To attend, please select this from your breakout options.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"7:30 pm \u00b7 concert: understory uprising the festival&#039;s high point opens to a broader public on friday evening, co-hosted with the washington national cathedral. the night unfolds as a journey of a variety show \u2014 beauty giving way to testimony, testimony to silence, silence to joy \u2014 emceed by composer stephen michael newby. over the rhine opens, johnnyswim closes, and in between you&#039;ll experience music that crosses jazz, classical, and the otherworldly sounds of tuned glass; testimony from lives given to the work of love in the ashes of its opposite; moments of dramatic performance and contemplation; and a dialogue on faith, suffering, and the search for language adequate to our days. more details here.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-454\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-454\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">7:30 PM  \u00b7  Concert: Understory Uprising<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-454\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The festival&#8217;s high point opens to a broader public on Friday evening, co-hosted with the Washington National Cathedral. The night unfolds as a journey of a variety show \u2014 beauty giving way to testimony, testimony to silence, silence to joy \u2014 emceed by composer Stephen Michael Newby. Over the Rhine opens, Johnnyswim closes, and in between you&#8217;ll experience music that crosses jazz, classical, and the otherworldly sounds of tuned glass; testimony from lives given to the work of love in the ashes of its opposite; moments of dramatic performance and contemplation; and a dialogue on faith, suffering, and the search for language adequate to our days. <a style=\"color: #cca076;\" href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/uprising\">More details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"10:00\u201311:30 pm \u00b7 late night: back to the understory hosted by krista tippett and krish kandiah \u00b7 cathedral crypt a late-night show in the lower reaches of the cathedral, designed in the graham norton tradition: two hosts on a sofa, three or four festival speakers at a time, a house band nearby, a glass of whiskey if you want one, and the kind of conversation people only have once it&#039;s late and the sleeves are rolled up. the understory&#039;s voices return underground, unguarded and convivial. if the adrenaline&#039;s rolling, join us!\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-455\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-455\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">10:00\u201311:30 PM  \u00b7  Late Night: Back to the Understory<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-455\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Krista Tippett and Krish Kandiah \u00b7 Cathedral Crypt<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A late-night show in the lower reaches of the Cathedral, designed in the Graham Norton tradition: two hosts on a sofa, three or four festival speakers at a time, a house band nearby, a glass of whiskey if you want one, and the kind of conversation people only have once it&#8217;s late and the sleeves are rolled up. The Understory&#8217;s voices return underground, unguarded and convivial. If the adrenaline&#8217;s rolling, join us!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/section><section class=\"festival-program__day\" data-calendar-date=\"2026-05-30\"><h2 class=\"festival-program__day-heading-wrap\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__day-trigger\" id=\"fp-day-h-3-2026-05-30\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-day-p-3-2026-05-30\"><span class=\"festival-program__day-title\">Saturday, May 30<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2><div id=\"fp-day-p-3-2026-05-30\" class=\"festival-program__day-panel\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"fp-day-h-3-2026-05-30\" hidden><ul class=\"festival-program__list\"><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"8:00\u20138:45 am \u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0morning prayer (three concurrent options) a laity lodge order of prayer, psalm recitation, and song guide: steven purcell a morning office in the spirit of laity lodge: the psalms recited, the day named, the body of the room joined in song before the work of the festival begins. visio divina via rembrandt and rubens guide: irena draga\u0161 jansen a guided practice of slow, prayerful seeing: two of the great painters of a divided age serve as our teachers in attention, contradiction, and the eye that searches for grace. a meditation on mary guide: margarita mooney clayton a meditation on the woman whose \u201cyes\u201d opens the christian story \u2014 and who has been, across centuries and traditions, a teacher in dependence, courage, and the quiet labor of bearing what is given.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-558\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-558\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">8:00\u20138:45 AM \u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0Morning Prayer (Three Concurrent Options)<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-558\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"391\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-1024x391.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-534\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-980x374.jpeg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/blue-hole-river-scaled-e1698433405363-480x183.jpeg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>A Laity Lodge Order of Prayer, Psalm Recitation, and Song<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Steven Purcell<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A morning office in the spirit of Laity Lodge: the psalms recited, the day named, the body of the room joined in song before the work of the festival begins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#474646\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-spacer gb-block-spacer gb-divider-solid gb-divider-size-1\"><hr style=\"height:30px\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2196\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-557\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-1280x1098.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-980x841.jpg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/prodigal_son_by_rembrandt_drawing_1642-edited-1-480x412.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) and (max-width: 1280px) 1280px, (min-width: 1281px) 2560px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>Visio Divina via Rembrandt and Rubens<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Irena Draga\u0161 Jansen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A guided practice of slow, prayerful seeing: two of the great painters of a divided age serve as our teachers in attention, contradiction, and the eye that searches for grace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"color:#474646\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-spacer gb-block-spacer gb-divider-solid gb-divider-size-1\"><hr style=\"height:30px\"\/><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-1024x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-536\" style=\"aspect-ratio:16\/9;object-fit:cover\" srcset=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-980x547.jpg 980w, https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/the-annunciation-tw-480x268.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-top is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<p><strong>A Meditation on Mary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Guide: Margarita Mooney Clayton<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A meditation on the woman whose \u201cyes\u201d opens the Christian story \u2014 and who has been, across centuries and traditions, a teacher in dependence, courage, and the quiet labor of bearing what is given.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"9:00 am \u00b7 who is christ for us today? cathedral nave saturday morning enters a different register. the festival gathers back into the nave for a sermon and music, a moment of preaching and song that takes up bonhoeffer&#039;s question from the prison cell \u2014 who is christ for us today? \u2014 and offers it back to the room from the deepest currents of the black church preaching tradition. with charlie dates and kevin bond.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-457\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-457\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">9:00 AM  \u00b7  Who Is Christ for Us Today?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-457\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Cathedral Nave<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Saturday morning enters a different register. The festival gathers back into the nave for a sermon and music, a moment of preaching and song that takes up Bonhoeffer&#8217;s question from the prison cell \u2014 Who is Christ for us today? \u2014 and offers it back to the room from the deepest currents of the Black Church preaching tradition. With Charlie Dates and Kevin Bond.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--subsection_heading\" data-search=\"saturday, 9:45\u201310:45 am \u00b7 after the overstory\"><div class=\"festival-program__subsection-heading-block\"><h3 class=\"festival-program__subsection-title festival-program__program-heading--subsection\">Saturday, 9:45\u201310:45 AM  \u00b7  After the Overstory<\/h3><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--intro\" data-search=\"final breakout sessions.\"><div class=\"festival-program__program-intro\"><p class=\"festival-program__program-intro-lede\">Final breakout sessions.<\/p><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"what comes next? searching for a moral imagination after the overstory a lot is running thin in our public life: the vocabulary, but also the imagination behind that vocabulary, the institutional forms that once carried it, and the moral confidence to say what we are for. what comes next is being written in scattered places. this session draws those streams into one room \u2014 not so much to settle them as to set them propulsively toward a new unity. what would a renewed christian humanism, in genuine conversation with its most serious interlocutors, actually build?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-459\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-459\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">What Comes Next? Searching for a Moral Imagination after the Overstory<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-459\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A lot is running thin in our public life: the vocabulary, but also the imagination behind that vocabulary, the institutional forms that once carried it, and the moral confidence to say what we are for. What comes next is being written in scattered places. This session draws those streams into one room \u2014 not so much to settle them as to set them propulsively toward a new unity. What would a renewed Christian humanism, in genuine conversation with its most serious interlocutors, actually build?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"are we in the american project together? hosted by amber lapp and chris griswold the gulf between working people and \u201cthe elites\u201d is arguably one of america\u2019s most consequential divides and the subject of endless discussion. but what can people of good will actually do about it? what role should working people have in american public life? this conversation will include working people and dc-based professionals thinking together about these issues. the goal is not diagnosis but discernment: do you feel like you are a full participant in a shared american project? if not, what would have to happen in order to feel that way?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-460\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-460\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Are We in the American Project Together?<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-460\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Amber Lapp and Chris Griswold<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The gulf between working people and \u201cthe elites\u201d is arguably one of America\u2019s most consequential divides and the subject of endless discussion. But what can people of good will actually do about it? What role should working people have in American public life? This conversation will include working people and DC-based professionals thinking together about these issues. The goal is not diagnosis but discernment: Do you feel like you are a full participant in a shared American project? If not, what would have to happen in order to feel that way?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"critical yeast vs. critical mass: a debate on tomorrow\u2019s theory of change moderated by cherie harder how does cultural and moral renewal actually happen? one school argues for critical mass \u2014 that movements only achieve change when enough people are mobilized to tip institutions, policies, and norms. another argues, with john paul lederach, for critical yeast \u2014 that what changes a culture is rarely the size of a coalition but the quality and placement of small, leavening minorities operating in the right relationships at the right moments. the distinction is not academic. it shapes how funders deploy capital, how organizers build, how pastors imagine their congregations, and how every person of conviction decides where to spend their finite life. held beneath hildreth mei\u00e8re\u2019s mosaic of the risen christ, the session unfolds as a relay: pair after pair of thinkers will take the two chairs, each duo making the case afresh \u2014 one for scale, one for leaven \u2014 until the question has been pressed from many angles by many minds. all those who attend should leave with a sharper heuristic for the discernment within their own work and aspirations to social change.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-461\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-461\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Critical Yeast vs. Critical Mass: A Debate on Tomorrow\u2019s Theory of Change<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-461\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Moderated by Cherie Harder<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>How does cultural and moral renewal actually happen? One school argues for critical mass \u2014 that movements only achieve change when enough people are mobilized to tip institutions, policies, and norms. Another argues, with John Paul Lederach, for critical yeast \u2014 that what changes a culture is rarely the size of a coalition but the quality and placement of small, leavening minorities operating in the right relationships at the right moments. The distinction is not academic. It shapes how funders deploy capital, how organizers build, how pastors imagine their congregations, and how every person of conviction decides where to spend their finite life. Held beneath Hildreth Mei\u00e8re\u2019s mosaic of the risen Christ, the session unfolds as a relay: pair after pair of thinkers will take the two chairs, each duo making the case afresh \u2014 one for scale, one for leaven \u2014 until the question has been pressed from many angles by many minds. All those who attend should leave with a sharper heuristic for the discernment within their own work and aspirations to social change.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"widening the canon, becoming a person hosted by redefining classics what happens to a culture when its formative texts shrink to fit the comfort of the powerful? this session explores the urgent work of recovering and enlarging the canon, not as a culture-war project, but as a practice of becoming more fully human. drawing on the classical tradition, charlotte mason pedagogy, and the experience of historically black colleges, the conversation asks what it means to read widely, deeply, and across difference as a discipline of moral formation.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-462\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-462\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Widening the Canon, Becoming a Person<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-462\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Redefining Classics<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>What happens to a culture when its formative texts shrink to fit the comfort of the powerful? This session explores the urgent work of recovering and enlarging the canon, not as a culture-war project, but as a practice of becoming more fully human. Drawing on the classical tradition, Charlotte Mason pedagogy, and the experience of historically black colleges, the conversation asks what it means to read widely, deeply, and across difference as a discipline of moral formation.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"public meaning, faith, and the cost of holding space a conversation between krista tippett and elizabeth oldfield two women who have built shows that became sanctuaries for millions of people, and yet who come at the work from quite different angles and traditions, sit together for the first time. krista tippett (on being) and elizabeth oldfield (the sacred) have each spent years learning what it costs to listen in public, to hold space for complexity in a culture that rewards certainty, and to make faith legible in a world that has largely stopped trying. this conversation between peers reflects on the festival itself and looks forward into the question that animates it: what does it take to hold space for others in a deafening age, and what does it do to the person who tries?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-463\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-463\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Public Meaning, Faith, and the Cost of Holding Space<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-463\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">A conversation between Krista Tippett and Elizabeth Oldfield<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Two women who have built shows that became sanctuaries for millions of people, and yet who come at the work from quite different angles and traditions, sit together for the first time. Krista Tippett (On Being) and Elizabeth Oldfield (The Sacred) have each spent years learning what it costs to listen in public, to hold space for complexity in a culture that rewards certainty, and to make faith legible in a world that has largely stopped trying. This conversation between peers reflects on the festival itself and looks forward into the question that animates it: What does it take to hold space for others in a deafening age, and what does it do to the person who tries?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"mission first, gathering after: reimagining the church hosted by tim soerens, mack mccarter, krish kandiah and emily harkins what if the church rediscovered its purpose by going outside its walls before gathering within them? this session explores congregations that have reclaimed mission as their center of gravity, emphasizing service, hospitality, and neighborhood presence over institutional maintenance. the conversation draws on the catholic worker tradition (what if every church had a house of hospitality? what if every christian home had a christ room?) alongside contemporary experiments in missional community. the question beneath: is the church\u2019s current impotence a crisis of strategy, or a crisis of imagination?\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-464\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-464\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Mission First, Gathering After: Reimagining the Church<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-464\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Tim Soerens, Mack McCarter, Krish Kandiah and Emily Harkins<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>What if the church rediscovered its purpose by going outside its walls before gathering within them? This session explores congregations that have reclaimed mission as their center of gravity, emphasizing service, hospitality, and neighborhood presence over institutional maintenance. The conversation draws on the Catholic Worker tradition (What if every church had a house of hospitality? What if every Christian home had a Christ room?) alongside contemporary experiments in missional community. The question beneath: Is the church\u2019s current impotence a crisis of strategy, or a crisis of imagination?<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"renewal and the academy: reimagining institutional stewardship hosted by shirley hoogstra friday\u2019s larger session asked what scholarship owes the common good. this smaller saturday conversation turns the question toward the people who actually run the institutions. college and university leaders occupy a unique and lonely role: stewarding formative communities amid financial strain, political polarization, and deepening questions about the very purpose of higher education. if the academy is part of society\u2019s understory \u2014 quietly shaping the soil from which future leadership and culture grow \u2014 then institutional stewardship goes far deeper than budgets and enrollment numbers. this session reflects honestly on how strategy, campus culture, and public engagement might serve the long-term health of a flourishing society, not only its short-term demands.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-465\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-465\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Renewal and the Academy: Reimagining Institutional Stewardship<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-465\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Shirley Hoogstra<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Friday\u2019s larger session asked what scholarship owes the common good. This smaller Saturday conversation turns the question toward the people who actually run the institutions. College and university leaders occupy a unique and lonely role: stewarding formative communities amid financial strain, political polarization, and deepening questions about the very purpose of higher education. If the academy is part of society\u2019s understory \u2014 quietly shaping the soil from which future leadership and culture grow \u2014 then institutional stewardship goes far deeper than budgets and enrollment numbers. This session reflects honestly on how strategy, campus culture, and public engagement might serve the long-term health of a flourishing society, not only its short-term demands.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"small groups outside: applying the comment manifesto to your domain what does christian humanism invite, specifically and practically, in your domain of work, family, and civic contribution? after three days of shared listening, this final session is a chance to bring the comment manifesto into contact with your own institutional and vocational context, in unhurried conversation with others laboring at similar coordinates. think coffee and picnic blankets. on arrival, participants will be sorted into small groups, each anchored by a host from comment\u2019s contributing editor board and podcast network. how do you characterize \u201cthe understory\u201d you\u2019ve heard across these days, and what would you name as the overstory, or overstories, of our common life? where do the manifesto\u2019s convictions cut against the grain of your actual work? what would it cost to take them seriously? bring what\u2019s stirred you across these days, and the people you find yourself among.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-466\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-466\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Small Groups Outside: Applying the Comment Manifesto to Your Domain<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-466\" hidden><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>What does Christian humanism invite, specifically and practically, in your domain of work, family, and civic contribution? After three days of shared listening, this final session is a chance to bring the <a style=\"color: #cca076;\" href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/manifesto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Comment<\/em> Manifesto<\/a> into contact with your own institutional and vocational context, in unhurried conversation with others laboring at similar coordinates. Think coffee and picnic blankets. On arrival, participants will be sorted into small groups, each anchored by a host from<em> Comment<\/em>\u2019s contributing editor board and podcast network. How do you characterize \u201cthe understory\u201d you\u2019ve heard across these days, and what would you name as the overstory, or overstories, of our common life? Where do the Manifesto\u2019s convictions cut against the grain of your actual work? What would it cost to take them seriously? Bring what\u2019s stirred you across these days, and the people you find yourself among.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"film premiere: simple machine directed by sara hendren (23 minutes) simple machine, 2025, is a 23-minute essay documentary: part portrait of an architect, and part meditation on the beauty and challenges of classical mechanics in the ingenious tools of our everyday lives. the film reframes assistive technologies in the adapted wood shop of one man, setting his story against the history of post-war prosthetics, industrial manufacturing, and the irreducible complexity of life with machines.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-467\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-467\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Film Premiere: Simple Machine<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-467\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Directed by Sara Hendren (23 minutes)<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p><em>Simple Machine<\/em>, 2025, is a 23-minute essay documentary: part portrait of an architect, and part meditation on the beauty and challenges of classical mechanics in the ingenious tools of our everyday lives. The film reframes assistive technologies in the adapted wood shop of one man, setting his story against the history of post-war prosthetics, industrial manufacturing, and the irreducible complexity of life with machines.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"poetry \/ writing workshop hosted by tara isabella burton tara isabella burton will lead a one-hour writing workshop on the beautiful and the sublime, drawing from the course she teaches at the catholic university of america. through guided journaling, short readings, and shared response, participants will explore the difference between what soothes and what overwhelms, what consoles and what undoes \u2014 and what each demands of the writer who attempts to render it. no prior writing experience required; bring a notebook and a willingness to look closely at what beauty actually does.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-468\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-468\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Poetry \/ Writing Workshop<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-468\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Tara Isabella Burton<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Tara Isabella Burton will lead a one-hour writing workshop on the beautiful and the sublime, drawing from the course she teaches at the Catholic University of America. Through guided journaling, short readings, and shared response, participants will explore the difference between what soothes and what overwhelms, what consoles and what undoes \u2014 and what each demands of the writer who attempts to render it. No prior writing experience required; bring a notebook and a willingness to look closely at what beauty actually does.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"the practice of attentiveness: sensory exercises for imagining the future captain: david kim \u00b7 in olmsted woods in the rush of our days, it is easy to lose our perceptual capacity to see what is actually present \u2014 and with it, the imaginative capacity to envision what could be. held in the contemplative circle of olmsted woods, this session moves through a series of sensory exercises designed to quiet the analytical mind and reawaken the kind of deep, receptive attention from which generative vision emerges. participants will leave not with a strategic plan but with a clearer sense of what they are being invited to see, build, and offer to our common life.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-469\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-469\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">The Practice of Attentiveness: Sensory Exercises for Imagining the Future<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-469\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Captain: David Kim \u00b7 In Olmsted Woods<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>In the rush of our days, it is easy to lose our perceptual capacity to see what is actually present \u2014 and with it, the imaginative capacity to envision what could be. Held in the contemplative circle of Olmsted Woods, this session moves through a series of sensory exercises designed to quiet the analytical mind and reawaken the kind of deep, receptive attention from which generative vision emerges. Participants will leave not with a strategic plan but with a clearer sense of what they are being invited to see, build, and offer to our common life.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"power\u2019s shifting machinery hosted by michael van pelt, ceo of cardus the machinery by which power moves has rarely shifted as fast as it is now. capital outruns governance. networks displace institutions. technology concentrates decision-making in fewer hands while distributing surveillance to all. the strategic and moral terrain on which a ceo, a board member, or a founder operates today bears almost no resemblance to the one that shaped american business institutions even fifteen years ago. this session gathers a small group of leaders who have spent their working lives inside the actual mechanics of capital, enterprise, and governance for a public conversation about where capital is accumulating now, what the new technologies of influence are doing to firms and communities, and what those building inside the marketplace must learn \u2014 fast \u2014 about an operating environment whose rules are being rewritten in real time.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-470\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-470\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Power\u2019s Shifting Machinery<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-470\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Michael Van Pelt, CEO of Cardus<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The machinery by which power moves has rarely shifted as fast as it is now. Capital outruns governance. Networks displace institutions. Technology concentrates decision-making in fewer hands while distributing surveillance to all. The strategic and moral terrain on which a CEO, a board member, or a founder operates today bears almost no resemblance to the one that shaped American business institutions even fifteen years ago. This session gathers a small group of leaders who have spent their working lives inside the actual mechanics of capital, enterprise, and governance for a public conversation about where capital is accumulating now, what the new technologies of influence are doing to firms and communities, and what those building inside the marketplace must learn \u2014 fast \u2014 about an operating environment whose rules are being rewritten in real time.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"searching for a new national story: a narrative ensemble hosted by john wood jr. civilizations cohere around stories, and ours are visibly fraying. the scripts on offer to replace them feel exhausted on arrival: a nostalgic return to a golden age, a revolutionary undoing of all that is, a nihilistic drift into technology and the self. they differ in everything but their shared ache: the sense that we no longer belong to one another. what would it take to weave a new story, one true enough to bind us, generous enough to hold us, rooted enough to outlast the noise? john wood jr. opens with his &quot;omni-american&quot; vision of a national identity remade. what follows is a chorus: festival participants offering brief accounts of where they sense a new story is taking shape, what it costs to live, and what it asks of the room.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-471\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-471\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Searching for a New National Story: A Narrative Ensemble<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-471\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by John Wood Jr.<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>Civilizations cohere around stories, and ours are visibly fraying. The scripts on offer to replace them feel exhausted on arrival: a nostalgic return to a golden age, a revolutionary undoing of all that is, a nihilistic drift into technology and the self. They differ in everything but their shared ache: the sense that we no longer belong to one another. What would it take to weave a new story, one true enough to bind us, generous enough to hold us, rooted enough to outlast the noise? John Wood Jr. opens with his &#8220;Omni-American&#8221; vision of a national identity remade. What follows is a chorus: festival participants offering brief accounts of where they sense a new story is taking shape, what it costs to live, and what it asks of the room.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"cathedral tour led by dr. terri lynn simpson and amanda iglesias a guided pilgrimage through the cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. friday&#039;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. on saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. in all tours special attention will be given to the cathedral&#039;s west front and frederick hart\u2019s controversial facade.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-553\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-553\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Cathedral Tour<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-553\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Led by Dr. Terri Lynn Simpson and Amanda Iglesias<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>A guided pilgrimage through the Cathedral\u2019s history and iconography, inside and out. Friday&#8217;s tours explore the grounds and gardens of the Cathedral, meditating on timeless tales of creation, creativity and connectedness. On Saturday we move into the building to experience it not as a museum but as a living liturgy to be read in each window and carving, a meditation on what stories a community chooses to enshrine. In all tours special attention will be given to the Cathedral&#8217;s west front and Frederick Hart\u2019s controversial facade.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"caf\u00e9 now and not yet hosted by marsh and tuula moyle for more than three decades, marsh and tuula moyle have worked at the foundations of moral imagination \u2014 first in eastern europe in the 1970s and 1980s, smuggling literature across borders under communism, and, in the wake of communism\u2019s collapse, founding eight publishing houses. they now work alongside l\u2019abri at the english study centre, where students arrive shaped by a flattened naturalism and bored by the categories they were given. the caf\u00e9 now and not yet is the form the moyles have refined for that work: small groups gather around a single question \u2014 \u201cwhat would change if everyone in our town committed to keeping one of the commandments?\u201d \u2014 to awaken the moral imagination and to understand what it means that god, who is good, calls us, as humans now, to take on his eternal life, which is not primarily a length of life but a quality of life.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-472\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-472\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">Caf\u00e9 Now and Not Yet<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-472\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Hosted by Marsh and Tuula Moyle<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>For more than three decades, Marsh and Tuula Moyle have worked at the foundations of moral imagination \u2014 first in Eastern Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, smuggling literature across borders under communism, and, in the wake of communism\u2019s collapse, founding eight publishing houses. They now work alongside L\u2019Abri at the English study centre, where students arrive shaped by a flattened naturalism and bored by the categories they were given. The Caf\u00e9 Now and Not Yet is the form the Moyles have refined for that work: small groups gather around a single question \u2014 \u201cWhat would change if everyone in our town committed to keeping one of the commandments?\u201d \u2014 to awaken the moral imagination and to understand what it means that God, who is good, calls us, as humans now, to take on his Eternal life, which is not primarily a length of life but a quality of life.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--day_heading\" data-search=\"saturday closing\"><div class=\"festival-program__day-heading-block\"><h3 class=\"festival-program__day-title festival-program__day-title--from-row\">Saturday Closing<\/h3><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"11:00 am\u201312:30 pm \u00b7 king\u2019s table feast chaired by eric motley \u00b7 cathedral nave the festival closes around four long tables set down the length of the nave: a meal that gathers contributors, registrants, and the city of washington into one shared act of feasting, reflecting, and celebration.\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle\"><button type=\"button\" class=\"festival-program__trigger\" id=\"fp-btn-474\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"fp-panel-474\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">11:00 AM\u201312:30 PM  \u00b7  King\u2019s Table Feast<\/span><span class=\"festival-program__chevron\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/span><\/button><div class=\"festival-program__panel\" id=\"fp-panel-474\" hidden><p class=\"festival-program__host\">Chaired by Eric Motley \u00b7 Cathedral Nave<\/p><div class=\"festival-program__body entry-content\"><p>The festival closes around four long tables set down the length of the nave: a meal that gathers contributors, registrants, and the city of Washington into one shared act of feasting, reflecting, and celebration.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><li class=\"festival-program__session festival-program__session--session\" data-search=\"12:30 pm \u00b7 peal bells: the understory rings out into the world\"><div class=\"festival-program__toggle festival-program__toggle--static\"><div class=\"festival-program__head-static\"><span class=\"festival-program__title-text\">12:30 PM  \u00b7  Peal Bells: The Understory Rings Out into the World<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/section><\/section>[\/et_pb_code][et_pb_button button_url=&#8221;https:\/\/understory.comment.org\/2026\/sign-in&#8221; url_new_window=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text=&#8221;Click to log in and register for breakouts&#8221; button_alignment=&#8221;center&#8221; disabled_on=&#8221;off|off|off&#8221; admin_label=&#8221;Click to login and register for breakouts&#8221; module_class=&#8221;font-inter-tight&#8221; _builder_version=&#8221;4.27.6&#8243; _module_preset=&#8221;default&#8221; custom_button=&#8221;on&#8221; button_text_size=&#8221;12px&#8221; 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[&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-391","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Program - The Understory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Get answers to frequently asked questions about The Understory festival, including registration, schedule, travel, accommodations, and what to expect during the three-day event at Washington National Cathedral.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/comment.org\/understory\/program\/\" 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