Please join us on Valentine’s Day for a journey of love with our keynote speaker, Anne Symens-Bucher and our Peacemaker of the Year Awardee Maurice Harper.
The Journey of Peacemaking: Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malik al-Kamil
Saint Francis of Assisi traveled to Egypt in 1219 during the Fifth Crusade to evangelize both the Crusaders and the Muslims. He met with Sultan Malik Al-Kamil, who was the nephew of the famous Sultan Saladin. Their meeting ended with the Sultan giving gifts to Francis and free pass within Muslim lands. Francis returned to Assisi a changed man. Their exchange is the peacemaking story of respect and mutual evangelization in a polarized culture that demanded mutual hatred and destruction of the Other, the one who is outside our circle of care. Francis’ journey can inspire our own peacemaking journey in this time of violence and polarization. Using the story of Francis meeting the Sultan, and the framework of the Spiral of the Work That Reconnects, Anne will invite us to reflect on what we can learn from St. Francis about the gifts we receive when we open our hearts to our perceived enemies.
Anne Symens-Bucher was Joanna Macy’s executive assistant for 20 years before Joanna’s death in July of 2025. Prior to that Anne worked for 25 years for the Franciscan Friars of the St. Barbara Province, primarily as co-director of their Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office. In the 1970s, she lived at the New York Catholic Worker with Dorothy Day, and subsequently founded the Oakland Catholic Worker. She co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience, organizing events at the Nevada Test Site and serving on the NDE Board for 3 decades. Anne and her husband, Terry, are professed Secular Franciscans and the founders of Canticle Farm in Oakland, an intentional community experimenting at the intersection of faith, social justice, and Earth-based nonviolent activism. Canticle Farm is rooted in Franciscan spirituality and the Work That Reconnects, a body of teachings of which Joanna Macy was the root teacher. Anne & Terry have been married for 39 years and are the parents of five children and grandparents of three.
MAURICE HARPER, JR. is a ministry leader, social activist, and renowned educator. He is a member of Faith in Action East Bay and the Diocesan Racial Task Force, an active participant in Oakland Ceasefire Walks in Oakland, and a facilitator of JustFaith programs on racial equity, healing, and justice. A long-time member of St. Columba’s Church, Maurice is head of their St. Vincent de Paul Society and assists with many social justice and youth activities. He has been an educator in Bay Area schools, including as principal of the former St. Martin de Porres School in Oakland.
Our event will take place at Newman Hall in Berkeley on February 14, 2026. Registration begins at 8:30 am, event begins at 9. No preregistration required. Donations appreciated, but no one turned away for lack of funds.