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The Staff of Easton Mountain
consists of an interfaith and multi-disciplinary team whose
mission is assist our visitors and guests on their path of
spiritual discovery. The team includes:
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 John
Stasio is the founder of Easton Mountain. His
vision for social justice, interfaith spirituality and
the potential of a spiritual community of gay men began
at a young age and motivated him to begin Easton Mountain.
In 1989 he founded Brothers Together Inc to promote
community, spiritual growth, healing and transformation
among men who love men. Prior to establishing Easton
Mountain in 2000, John worked as a body-centered therapist
and workshop facilitator. John was a member of the Jesuit
Urban Center's Urban Ministry team where he provided
spiritual direction and bodywork to people living with
HIV/ AIDS. He is a former seminarian and member of the
Catholic Worker Community. John's undergraduate studies
at Boston College focused on Philosophy and Theology
and their application to contemporary social challenges.
He received the Lisle Fellowship in 1987 to study non-violent
social change at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New
Delhi India and then stayed on in India to work with
Mother Theresa's sisters at the home for the dying in
Calcutta. While in India he met Dom Bede Griffiths with
whom he had a powerful connection and remains committed
to promoting interfaith dialogue. Additionally he seeks
to apply the principals of Spiritual/Global Psychology,
studied at the Concord Institute under the direction
of Tom Yeomans, to his work for social change, in his
own life and in his work with others.
He splits his time between sharing a home with his
partner and a golden retriever in Albany and retreating
to his cabin in the woods of Easton Mountain. |
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|  Jerry
Burke has been a member of the extended community
since the outset and joined the Easton Residential Community
in January of 2006. He worked as a Trust Officer for
a major Boston bank for more than thirty years and then
completed a Masters degree in Social Work at Simmons
College. He is licensed as a social worker in MA (LICSW)
and NY (LMSW). He uses his training and life experience
to serve the community and those who come to Easton
for healing and renewal. He has a special interest in
life transitions, gender issues, recovery, spirituality
and healing family of origin wounds. He offers workshops
which open the opportunity to explore participants'
relationships with their fathers and/or with themselves
as a father. He is available to work in intensive brief
therapy in the context of Easton Mountain as a safe
holding environment for this deep work.
He has two sons (ages 31 and 33) and an
extraordinarily amazing grandson (age 1). He is also
the president of the Board of Trustees of Rowe UU Camp
and Conference Center in Rowe, MA. |
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 Tim
Cooley thought early in his life he might become
a priest. Five years of Carmelite seminary convinced
him otherwise.
Becoming a member of an ensemble theatre
company was another rewarding path explored, followed
by teaching school and doing social work. When massage
entered his life, he connected with a vocation that
suited him beautifully. He has continued to explore
the wonder of body/mind/spirit connection as a licensed
massage therapist for over twenty years.
Yoga has been an integral part of his
whole adult life. Eventually he completed yoga teacher
training (Interdisciplinary Yoga, as developed by Don
and Amba Stapleton), motivated mainly by a desire to
deepen his own practice. Soon afterward, he was given
the opportunity to teach yoga and has continued to do
so ever since. He feels totally blessed to be able to
share his yoga, massage, and life here at Easton Mountain
Retreat, a place he literally fell in love with at first
sight. |
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|  Harry
Faddis, D.D., CPCC has been a member of the
Easton Mountain Community since its founding and is
also a member of the Board of Directors. He is a professional
life coach and spiritual director who works with gay
men, focusing on all male issues, including spirituality,
eroticism, career, finances, and personal power. At
Easton Mountain he works in programming and special
projects. He also facilitates workshops at Easton Mountain;
these include Life Coaching, Psychodrama, Japanese Calligraphy,
Introduction to the Enneagram, and Fundamentals of Martial
Arts. He practices Tae Kwon Do and was awarded a first
degree Black Belt in 2007; and he is the co-host, along
with Steve Sims, of a weekly radio show about queer
spirituality. They can be heard on Fridays, 12:00-2:00
p.m., on WRPI, Troy and on line at www.wrpi.org
(click on Listen Now). To learn more about Harry and
his work, visit his website at www.harryfaddis.com.
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|  Dennis
Petragnani has been working in various aspects
of the church for the past 10 years after having pursued
degrees in both theology and philosophy at the university
and seminary levels. Dennis has worked for a major religious
order as a consultant and fundraiser, a catholic publishing
company, on the staff of the office of Young Adult Ministry
for the Archdiocese of New York and served as the pastoral
associate, director of outreach, liturgy and LGBT ministries
at a Jesuit Apostolate in New York City. Dennis is one
of the founders and co-chairs the Ad Hoc Committee for
Pastoral Care for LGBT Catholics and their families
in the greater metropolitan New York area and the former
national President of the Catholic Association of Lesbian
and Gay Ministry. Dennis has traveled the country conducting
retreats and talks on the late great spiritual writer
Henri Nouwen and has been an advisor and consultant
to diocesan and parish leadership on establishing LGBT
ministries. Dennis was one of the founding board members
of Help Is on the Way Today a not-for- profit organization
that raises money and awareness for children and teens
living with HIV and AIDS in the New York Metropolitan
area. Dennis is a full-time resident of Easton Mountain
and serves as the General Manager of the Retreat Center.
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 Dave
Sledesky has been living at Easton Mountain since
November 2005, providing support for Easton Mountain community
in a multitude of ways, and is currently responsible for
Easton's information technology systems and website development.
Dave found Easton quite by accident when his boyfriend
at the time picked up a brochure at the GLBT center in
Hartford, CT. Over the course of the summer of 2005, he
visited Easton on a regular basis and finally decided
to move to Easton. Dave felt called to Easton much like
he was called to the priesthood when he was younger (he
left seminary before being ordained - THANK GOD). He has
recently started learning Non-Violent Communication as
developed by Marshall Rosenberg to help him be more compassionate
with himself and others. He leads workshops in Non-Violent
Communication to share what he has learned to help others
to communicate with compassion not only with others but
with their own "inner critics" as well. Recently,
Dave has also taken up beekeeping, and is Easton's resident
beekeeper. He also enjoys knitting and spinning yarn in
his spare time. In May of 2011, he completed a Permaculture
Design Course in NY and is now a Certified Permaculturist.
He intends to use his newfound knowledge and skills in
this area to increase awareness of permaculture principles
around the Easton Mountain property. |
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 Sunfire
has been involved with Easton Mountain since its first
summer, and has lived here since 2005. He has been leading
workshops and retreats that combine spirit and body since
1988 and has studied with Joseph Kramer and other faculty
of the Body Electric School, from which he holds certificates
in massage, breathwork, and sacred intimacy. He is certified
as an Advanced Energy Healer by the Inner Focus School.
Additional studies have included meditation, A Course
in Miracles, Ira Progoff's Intensive Journal Work, and
several Native American practices. At Easton Mountain,
he assists at community-led retreats with meditations
and workshops on healing. |
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