July 2023

Caux, Switzerland has been a special place since I first visited the Initiatives of Change (IofC) International conference center in 1996, the 50th anniversary of Caux as headquarters of the movement. I was a Caux Scholar, the signature conflict transformation program. that year and remember being overwhelmed with the people I was meeting: His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, and Archbishop Franz Konig. The place had a lot of “old timers” in the MRA network who remembered working with Frank Buchman and Peter Howard, the founder and his successor who were leaders in the movement. The following year, I would return to this transformational place as an assistant with the Caux Scholars Program and propose to my wife!

The Caux Forum 2023 brought our global network back together after a pandemic hiatus, plus a lot of new folks, for “Healing the Wounds of the Past” and “Trust and Integrity in Democracy.” I was honored to be elected to the International Council of IofC. The work of grassroots teams across the world inspires me in what sometimes seems like hopeless times. If I am a small part of accompanying them to do this transformational work then what a gift!