Anne and Terry Symens-Bucher

Anne and Terry Symens-Bucher are founders of Canticle Farm, an intentional community in Oakland, California, 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 best known through living systems and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy.

Anne worked as Joanna Macy’s Executive Assistant for the last twenty years of Joanna’s life. Prior to that she was involved in nuclear disarmament, Sanctuary, nonviolence, and ecological sustainability work for twenty-five years, primarily as Co-Director of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Office for the Franciscan Friars of the St. Barbara Province. Terry has a Master of Divinity Degree from the Franciscan School of Theology and a Juris Doctor degree from UC Law, San Francisco. He supports and develops rites of passage for men of various ages and faith lineages. He is currently focused on guiding elder rites for men. In his community building effort with Illuman, he centers the role of conflict in personal and organizational development, and the ability of trauma and shadow work to transform relationships by deepening the social field.

Anne and Terry are retreat facilitators of the Work That Reconnects and guides for elder rites of passage. They are the parents of five children, grandparents of three, and have been married for forty years.