SPIRITUAL REBEL

Sarah A. Bowen is an animal chaplain and a co-founder of Compassion Consortium―the first interfaith, interspiritual, and interspecies community for people who care about and advocate for animals and the planet―where she leads the Animal Chaplaincy Training program. She also companions animals through death, creates sacred memorial rituals, counsels humans grieving animal loss, and advocates for exploited and endangered species in both religious and secular contexts. An RNS Vatican News Reporter featured her response to Pope Francis’s suggestion that having pets is selfish. 

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An award-winning author, her latest book is Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice for Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, & Trying to Heal the Planet  (Monkfish Publishing). A columnist on animal/human relationships for Spirituality & Health magazine, Bowen’s work has also appeared in Parabola, Tricycle, Religion Dispatches, Psychology Today, and Animal Culture Magazine,

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​A passionate speaker and teacher, Bowen has presented for the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Spiritual Directors International, Best Friends National Conference, and the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.

 

Sarah is also an academic dean at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, where she encourages emerging clergy to align their spiritual values with animal and planetary welfare. 

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Sarah holds a BA in Human Ecology from Michigan State University, MA in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary, was ordained through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, completed Emerson Theological's Passmore Animal Chaplain Program, and is joyfully engaged in postgraduate research in Humane Religious Studies and Anthrozoology.