MEET LESLYE

Hello! My name is Leslye Colvin. I am a writer, a spiritual companion, and a contemplative activist.

This is a promising time to seek my next professional opportunity at the intersection of faith, spirituality and social justice whether faith-based or secular. Society needs compassionate professionals who can appreciate nuance and move beyond the duality that seems to have grasped our society. These are some of the skills I have developed by working for Gathering for Mission, a project of Catholic Committee of the South that provided practicums in dialogue, and in Justice and Peace Ministries for the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.

My skills have been enhanced by completing three formation programs over the past six years on the Christian contemplative tradition and the practice of spiritual direction, as well as facilitating a number of the programs from JustFaith Ministries.

I have extensive experience in promoting mission and expanding outreach of a variety of sectors including faith-based and secular. Inspired by the Catholic social justice tradition, I am passionate about encouraging diversity of thought especially as it relates to those often marginalized within the community.

This year, I was commissioned by Pax Christi USA to author their Advent book of reflections, Seeking Wisdom’s Light. “Bursting Bubbles” is a piece I wrote for Wisdom of Our Elders: Living in Spirit, Wisdom, Deep Mercy, and Truth published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. My “Learning to See Beyond the Normative” is in Oneing — The Cosmic Egg, vol. 9 no. 2 of the Center for Action and Contemplation’s biannual journal. My essay, “Life, Freedom and Dignity: Reflections of a Black American Catholic”, is included in The Catholic Women Speak Network’s Visions and Vocations published by Paulist Press on the occasion of the 2018 Synod on Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment. I also have been published by National Catholic Reporter and U.S. Catholic.

I have been interviewed by America Magazine, U.S. Catholic Magazine, South Africa’s Radio Veritas, and Vatican Radio on the construct of race, as well as by author Olga M. Segura for the book Birth of A Movement: Black Lives Matter and the Catholic Church. My blog, Leslye’s Labyrinth features writings from my African-American Catholic heart.

I am a graduate of the Living School for Action and Contemplation, the Haden Institute, and the Guild for Spiritual Guidance. I hold a M.A. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an undergraduate degree from Xavier University of Louisiana. A native of Alabama, the land of the Muscogee, I reside in Maryland, the land of the Piscataway. I serve on the Boards of a number of national organizations.