Lee Herrick is California’s 10th Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role. A former Fresno Poet Laureate, Herrick’s work explores the diversity and vitality of the California experience. Born in Daejeon, South Korea and adopted as an infant, he writes eloquently on the immigrant experience – bringing to life the smell of chapchae and the sound of mariachi trumpets, the farmers market at midnight, and the small talk of Armenian neighbors. Herrick’s work is a Whitmanesque celebration of the best spirit of our state, the vibrancy of the Central Valley, and ourselves.     Every year Grace Cathedral chooses a theme to help provide focus and create new ways to grow as a community. In 2023, our theme is the Year of Poetry. During this year we will explore the walls that separate us from each other and the words that help connect us.  

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Herrick about poetry as a bridge to social justice, and its enduring power.  

Give to Grace 

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. gracecathedral.org/give. 

Experience the Exceptional  

GraceArts connects a wider community of people through art and cultural events held in our awe-inspiring space. If you have a passion for the arts, become a GraceArts member and enjoy discounts and benefits while supporting our cathedral. Sign up today to be part of GraceArts! gracecathedral.org/join. 

About the Guest  

Lee Herrick is the California Poet Laureate. He is the author of three books of poems: Scar and Flower, finalist for the 2020 Northern California Book Award; Gardening Secrets of the Dead; and This Many Miles from Desire. He is co-editor of The World I Leave You: Asian American Poets on Faith and Spirit (Orison Books 2020). His poems appear widely, in The Poetry Foundation, Academy of American Poets, The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems from the San Francisco Bay Watershed, Indivisible: Poems of Social Justice with a foreword by Common, HERE: Poems for the Planet, with a foreword by the Dalai Lama, and Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy, among others. Herrick serves on the advisory board of Terrain.org and Sixteen Rivers Press. He co-founded LitHop in Fresno. He has taught in Qingdao, China, and for Kundiman. He was born in Daejeon, Korea and adopted as an infant. He lives with his family in Fresno, California and served as Fresno Poet Laureate from 2015-2017. He teaches at Fresno City College and in the low-residency MFA program at University of Nevada Reno at Lake Tahoe. He is the 10th California Poet Laureate, and the first Asian American to serve in the role.  

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online:   

gracecathedral.org/the-forum. 

Join us for a special online conversation with The Very Rev. Dr. David Monteith, the dean of Canterbury Cathedral--England's first cathedral. 

Canterbury Cathedral is a unique place of worship, a major pilgrimage destination, a masterpiece of art and architecture, and one of the UK's most-visited historic sites. It is the principal seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury who now leads the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion.  

What is the role of the cathedral in times like these? Cathedrals have a distinctive capacity and calling to bring people of all spiritual and political backgrounds together to pray, mourn, learn, and act in times of crisis and change. Dean David Monteith and Dean Malcolm Clemens Young of Grace Cathedral will reflect together on the cathedral’s unique role and the ministry of cathedrals in our time.  

Give to Grace

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. gracecathedral.org/give.

Experience the Exceptional 

GraceArts connects a wider community of people through art and cultural events held in our awe-inspiring space. If you have a passion for the arts, become a GraceArts member and enjoy discounts and benefits while supporting our cathedral. Sign up today to be part of GraceArts! gracecathedral.org/gracearts.

About the Guest 

The Very Reverend Dr. David Monteith was appointed Dean of Canterbury in December 2022.  Previously he was Dean of Leicester (from May 2013), and before that served as Canon Chancellor and Acting Archdeacon of Leicester. David grew up during ‘The Troubles’ in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. He studied Zoology at Durham University and Theology at Nottingham University, after which he served as a priest in the Diocese of Birmingham, in London where he was Associate Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and as a Team Rector and Area Dean in Wimbledon, Diocese of Southwark. During his time at Leicester, David oversaw work on reordering the Cathedral and the establishment of Cathedral Gardens, and the Leicester Cathedral Revealed Project which, with NLHF funding, will complete the re-ordering work and provide a new Chapter House. The reburial of the remains of King Richard III, which were rediscovered in the nearby Leicester car park overlaying the remains of a medieval Franciscan Friary, was another major project completed successfully. David was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Leicester in 2016 acknowledging his service and leadership in the community. Until 2018 he served as Chair of the St Philips Centre for Interfaith Dialogue. In 2020 he was elected as Chair of the College of Deans and is an ex-officio member of the AEC Executive. 

About the Moderator 

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.    

About The Forum  

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.  More about Grace Forum Online:  gracecathedral.org/the-forum.

Kick off Pride Month with a conversation with Nguyen Pham, the first Vietnamese president of San Francisco Pride, the non-profit organization founded to produce the SF Pride Celebration and Parade. SF Pride is a world leader in the global Pride movement and one of the largest LGBTQ+ celebrations in the world. Pham talks with Grace Cathedral’s Canon Pastor, the Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene, about recent challenges for the queer community, how the backdrop of anti-trans legislation across the country is informing his local leadership, and Pride’s 53rd annual celebration of diversity, equality, and love.   

About the Guest 

As the first Vietnamese president of SF Pride, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded to produce the SF Pride Celebration and Parade, Nguyen Pham works to uplift, center, and protect marginalized queer lives. Prior to his election as President, he served as Vice President of the organization for one year and as Board Secretary for five. In 2019, he helped to produce the inaugural SF Pride Golf Tournament, the first and only PGA-endorsed event ensuring queer visibility in one of the most cis-heteronormative spaces in the world – as well as SF Pride’s most lucrative board-led annual fundraiser to date. He continued that tradition with the tournament’s fourth annual return in 2022, which was a resounding success.  

Nguyen is also Director of Philanthropy at Frameline, a San Francisco-based heritage organization aimed at changing the world through the power of LGBTQ+ cinema. Additionally, he performs with CHEER San Francisco, the Official Cheer Team of SF, and an all-volunteer nonprofit performance group that raises charitable funds globally for community members facing life-challenging conditions. He is also the first openly-LGBTQ+ member of the Mensa Foundation Board of Trustees. Adding to his already impressive resume and philanthropic endeavors, Nguyen produces and emcees national events to raise charitable funds for numerous nonprofits.  

 About the Moderator 

The Rev. Canon Mary Carter Greene is Canon Pastor at Grace Cathedral.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. gracecathedral.org/the-forum 

Give to Grace 

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. gracecathedral.org/give 

Become a Cultural Member  

Be one of the first to join this new program and enjoy discounts on a robust schedule of arts, music, cultural offerings, and more! Plus, you’ll also support Grace Cathedral in its visionary activities and initiatives. gracecathedral.org/join 

Celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with Chinatown Community Ambassador and lifelong activist Rev. Norman Fong. A captivating storyteller and truth-teller, he talks with Vice Dean of Grace Cathedral, Greg Kimura, at The Forum, and preaches from the pulpit at the Choral Eucharist service, also on May 28.  

About the Guest 

The Rev. Norman Fong is the Parish Associate of the Presbyterian Church in Chinatown, which is the oldest API Church in America. He was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister and has been serving his home church since 1981. He has also worked from1990 to 2023 for the Chinatown Community Development Center, including serving as its Executive Director (and since 2020 as its “Community Ambassador”). Born and raised in Chinatown, he continues to serve his home base doing justice and loving kindness, which is his lifelong commitment. Norman (little Dragon) is also the recipient of the White House Champion of Change award during the Obama administration. Currently, he also is part of the Coalition for Community Safety & Justice (CCSJ) serving API victims of hate crimes in San Francisco.     

About the Moderator  

The Rev. Greg Kimura, Ph.D. (Cantab.) joined Grace Cathedral as Vice Dean in 2022. He is a fourth-generation Alaskan with a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and is an international expert on philosophical pragmatism. Most recently Kimura served as the Rector of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ojai, California. Before that, he was President and C.E.O. of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. Kimura also served as the President and C.E.O. of the Alaska Humanities Forum, and he has taught at Alaska Pacific University and at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He is married to Joy Atrops-Kimura with two children. 

About The Forum 

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world.   Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.  

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Please go to Gracecathedral.org/give. 

The poetry itself sizzles on the page.” — New York Journal of Books  

On May 13, Grace Cathedral and the International Readers of Homer present a 10-hour reading of The Iliad, in classicist Caroline Alexander’s translation, called a new gold standard by New Criterion. Alexander is also the author of two New York Times bestsellers, The Endurance, a riveting account of Shackleton's famed Antarctic expedition, and The Bounty, the true story of the mutiny against Lieutenant William Bligh.    

With her virtuoso translation of The Iliad, Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless epic of the Trojan War. As told by Homer, this ancient tale of a particular Bronze Age conflict becomes a sublime and sweeping evocation of the destruction of war throughout the ages.  

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Alexander about the relevance of the story of The Iliad to us today and the enduring power of its poetry. 

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Please go to Gracecathedral.org/give.  

About the Guest 

Caroline Alexander is the author of the international bestsellers The Endurance and The Bounty and, more recently, The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of the Trojan War. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, where she was a contributing writer, and in The New Yorker, Smithsonian, and Outside, among other publications. Alexander received her doctorate in classics from Columbia University and was the founder of the Department of Classics at the University of Malawi in East Africa.  

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.  

The Abortion Talks is a documentary film about the secret dialogues that took place between pro-life and pro-choice leaders in the Boston area, in the wake of shootings that left employees dead at two clinics. Disillusioned by the rhetoric and postering from both sides, three pro-life and three pro-choice leaders meet secretly to see if together they could fix their broken worlds.   

As the timely, relevant title indicates, on one level this film is about the complex topic of abortion. But on a much deeper level, what this film is really about is showcasing the power of dialogue to replace dangerous and divisive stereotypes, strategies, and rhetoric with empathy, tolerance, and genuine friendship. Directed by Sarah Perkins and Josh Sabey, whose 2019 film American Tragedy won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival, it's a powerful, true, and timely story of six women and how their brave decision to meet changed their lives.   

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Perkins and Sabey about the story behind the covert meetings, the abortion debate then and now, and finding common ground across our deepest divides. 

 You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Please go to Gracecathedral.org/give.  

About the Guests 

Josh Sabey and Sarah Perkins are a husband-and-wife filmmaking team; their organization is J&S Ltd. They have overseen the entirety of The Abortion Talks project from development to post-production as co-directors, co-editors, and camera operators. Their previous film, American Tragedy, won Best Documentary at the Boston Film Festival. It was one of three films selected to premiere opening night alongside Taika Waititi’s Jo Jo Rabbit and Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life. It has since been screened around the country at festivals in Heartland, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and others. It was acquired by Gravitas Ventures and has been viewed over a million times. It is regularly the best performing documentary for their distributor and has ranked in the top 20 most watched documentaries on Amazon.   

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.  

Recently, the United Nations released a report stating that the Earth is likely to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next ten years, and that we need to make an immediate and drastic shift away from fossil fuels to prevent the planet from overheating dangerously beyond that level. As we prepare for major changes in how we live, what can we learn from emerging conversations about “green consumption” and a “new economy” focusing on visions of resilience and sustainability, in which stronger, more connected communities become the social fabric for an ecologically balanced economy?

Juliet Schor is an economist and sociologist at Boston College. Her research focuses on work, consumption, and climate change. Her most recent book is After the Gig: how the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back, which won the Porchlight Management and Workplace Culture Book of the Year. Previous books include the national best-seller The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, widely credited for influencing the national debate on work and family; and True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans are Creating a Time-Rich, Ecologically Light, Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations, and is a co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream (newdream.org), a national sustainability organization. 

Join Malcolm Clemens Young in honor of Earth Day for a conversation with Schor about the intersection of climate change and the economy, and what it means to be a green consumer.  

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Gracecathedral.org/give. 

About the Guest  

Juliet Schor is an economist and sociologist at Boston College. Her research focuses on work, consumption, and climate change. She is currently leading a global research team studying companies around the world who are giving employees 4-day, 32-hour schedules with 5 days of pay. Her most recent book is After the Gig: how the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back, which won the Porchlight Management and Workplace Culture Book of the Year. Previous books include the national best-seller The Overworked American: The Unexpected Decline of Leisure, widely credited for influencing the national debate on work and family; and True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans are Creating a Time-Rich, Ecologically Light, Small-Scale, High-Satisfaction Economy. She has served as a consultant to the United Nations, and is a co-founder of the Center for a New American Dream (newdream.org), a national sustainability organization where she served on the board for more than 15 years. A graduate of Wesleyan University, Schor received her Ph.D. in economics at the University of Massachusetts. Before joining Boston College, she taught at Harvard University for 17 years, in the Department of Economics and the Committee on Degrees in Women's Studies. 

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum 

“The awareness that we explore here, the capacity for being more present to the relationships in our lives, is basic to the human experience. Whatever our background, as humans, we share the ability to be more engaged, and to wake up more fully to the moments of our lives.”   

– from The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness  

Rhonda Magee is a Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco and an internationally recognized mindfulness teacher and innovator. For more than 20 years, Magee has been exploring how mindfulness and other contemplative practices support engagement in the world in the face of the multiple interlocking challenges of our times, including systemic injustice, climate distress, political polarization, migration, war, and their effects on us all.  A prolific author, she draws on law and legal history to weave storytelling, poetry, analysis, and practices into inspiration for changing how we think, act, and live together in a rapidly changing world. Her book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice, which has been called “brilliant…useful…essential right now,” offers a road map to a more peaceful world.   

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Magee about how inner work is essential in order to have the difficult conversations necessary for healing the conflicts that divide us.  

  You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Please go to Gracecathedral.org/give.  

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.   

We are thrilled to announce the gift to the cathedral of Our Lady of the Flowers, a photographic work by artist David LaChapelle, which we will be celebrating at an opening reception in the cathedral on March 11, 2023. Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with LaChapelle about the story of Our Lady of the Flowers, and his storied career.  

David LaChapelle was born in Connecticut in 1963 and attended high school at North Carolina School of The Arts.  Originally enrolled as a painter, he developed an analogue technique by hand-painting his own negatives to achieve a sublime spectrum of color before processing his film. At age 17, LaChapelle moved to New York City.  Following his first photography show at Gallery 303, he was hired by Andy Warhol to work at Interview Magazine. Through his mastery of color, unique composition, and imaginative narratives, LaChapelle began to expand the genre of photography.  His staged tableau, portrait, and still life works challenged devices of traditional photography and his work quickly gained international interest. By 1997, The New York Times predicted, “LaChapelle is certain to influence the work of a new generation...in the same way that Mr. Avedon pioneered so much of what is familiar today.” In the decades since, LaChapelle has become one of the most published photographers throughout the world with an anthology of books including LaChapelle Land (1996), Hotel LaChapelle (1999), Heaven to Hell (2006), Lost & Found and Good News (2017).  Simultaneously, his work has expanded into music video, film, and stage projects.  His 2005 feature film Rize was released theatrically in 17 countries. Many of his still and film works have become iconic archetypes of America in the 21st century. In the past 30 years, LaChapelle has exhibited internationally in galleries and museums including the National Portrait Gallery (London), Musée de Monnaie (Paris), Barbican Centre (London), Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Musee D’Orsay (Paris), Groninger Museum (The Netherlands), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome), Palazzo Reale (Milano), National Portrait Gallery (Washington D.C.), Casa dei Tre Oci (Venice), La Venaria Reale (Turin), MUDEC (Milan), and Fotografiska (New York). .davidlachapelle.com.  

You can help us bring the arts to life at Grace with a gift today to The Forum. Please go to Gracecathedral.org/give-form.  

About the Moderator  

The Very Rev. Dr. Malcolm Clemens Young is the dean of Grace Cathedral. He is the author of The Spiritual Journal of Henry David Thoreau and The Invisible Hand in Wilderness: Economics, Ecology, and God, and is a regular contributor on religion to the Huffington Post and San Francisco Examiner.     

About The Forum   

The Forum is a series of stimulating conversations about faith and ethics in relation to the important issues of our day. We invite inspiring and illustrious people to sit down for a real conversation with the Forum’s host and with you. Our guests range from artists, inventors and philosophers to pop culturists and elected officials, but the point of The Forum is singular: civil, sophisticated discourse that engages minds and hearts to think in new ways about the world. Gracecathedral.org/the-forum.   

“Our breath is a beautiful, healing, mysterious gift, and so is this book. I already feel like it’s going to change my life.” —  Elizabeth Gilbert 

There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing: take air in, let it out, repeat twenty-five thousand times a day. Yet, as a species, humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences.  

James Nestor is an award-winning author and journalist who has written for Scientific American, Outside, The New York Times, and more. His latest book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, was an instant New York Times and London Sunday Times bestseller. 

Breath turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head. The answers aren’t found in pulmonology labs, as we might expect, but in the muddy digs of ancient burial sites, secret Soviet facilities, New Jersey choir schools, and the smoggy streets of São Paulo.

Join Malcolm Clemens Young for a conversation with Nestor about his new book, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, how the human species has lost the ability to breathe properly—and how to get it back.