The Rt. Rev. Br. Mark D’Alessio is a Franciscan friar and the founder of the interfaith community of the Companions of Francis and Clare. He is also a spiritual director, Christian bishop and priest, ordained lay Buddhist minister, chaplain, retreat leader, author, crisis counselor for the homeless, and past president and executive director of the Psychotherapy & Spirituality Institute, which draws together the inspiration of the church with the wisdom of psychological care.
In addition, Br. Mark is a faculty member at All Faiths Seminary International for the training of interfaith ministers. He’s ordained into multiple spiritual lineages, both East (Zen Buddhist, Thich Nhat Hanh’s Order of Interbeing) and West (Christian/Franciscan, the Companions of Francis and Clare). As a long-time seeker and practitioner of spiritual wisdom, he does his best to affirm the Christian Wisdom tradition within a wider inter-spiritual framework. He has taught, lectured, and led retreats in the US and abroad.
Br. Mark is especially committed to serving those who are sidelined and at risk. Moving to Long Island, he founded the Franciscan Circle, a diverse interfaith gathering of clergy and lay people who seek to journey in mind and heart with the witness and wisdom of the saints of Assisi, Francis, and Clare.
In this episode, we speak with Br. Mark about the turning points in his spiritual journey, including the moment when he realized it was permitted to “ask any question you want of God”; his interfaith ministry and experience of Buddhism in a Christian context as “a different practice for the same spiritual muscle”; and the origins of the Franciscan Circle and Companions of Francis and Clare. Along the way, Br. Mark shares insights into how “God works through invitation,” the relationship between conversion and compassion (and how compassion is the ultimate sign of personal transformation), the distinction between joy and happiness, and other stages in “the mission of understanding the mystery.”
