Inaugural RETI to Launch August 3, at Capuchin Retreat Center 

The inaugural North America Turtle Island Regional Ecumenical Theological Institute (RETI) will launch on Monday, August 3, in metro Detroit, Mich., and conclude in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on August 16.

RETI, a fully immersive residential theological learning program across borders, accredited by an Association of Theological Schools (ATS) backed institution, will convene 21 enrollees.

Designed for a diverse cohort of advanced students of theology, emerging researchers, and scholar-practitioners, will focus on assigned readings organized around its six thematic pillars.

Together, the six pillars carry the institute’s common question, Where Now for Visible Justice? — across two weeks and two cities.

1. Climate Justice — The science of a warming planet, the disproportionate burden carried by Indigenous and frontline communities, and the traditions that call the churches to care for creation.

2. Secularism and Laicity — How modern societies negotiate the place of religion in public life — secularity, religious nationalism, and pluralism, and what they mean for the church’s witness.

3. Racism & Anti-Racism — The entanglement of theology with the origins of race, and the biblical and confessional resources for the pursuit of justice and the work of anti-racism.

4. Solidarity with Indigenous Communities — The Doctrine of Discovery and its enduring impact, decolonial thought, and what genuine solidarity with Indigenous peoples requires of the churches.

5. Interfaith Dialogue — Encounter and friendship across religious traditions — the practices, leadership, and humility that interreligious dialogue asks of Christian communities.

6. Wealth Disparity and Poverty — The ecumenical struggle against poverty, a Christian response to a culture of affluence, and theology’s reckoning with class, capitalism, and solidarity.

Special Visits/Field trips in US:

• Freedom Dreams EcoVillage (2647 E. Willis Street) https://www.freedomdreams.org

• Tour of the land; Begin work; All tools and safety gear provided. Garden/work clothing recommended.

• Study Visit to Second Baptist Church (Underground Railroad) 

• International Memorial to the Underground Railroad (Gateway to Freedom)

Facilitators & Speakers

Rev. Jennifer Susanne Leath, Ph.D. is the Queen's National Scholar and Associate Professor in Black Religions at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada); she is also the pastor of Tanner-Price AME Church (Windsor, Ontario, Canada). Beyond her numerous articles, Dr. Leath's first monograph, Black, Quare, and Then to Where: Theories of Justice and Black Sexual Ethics, was published in Fall 2023 (Duke University Press). 

Soren M. Hessler is assistant professor in the practice of leadership and administration, director of the Master of Arts in Religion and Leadership program, and co-director of the Atlanta Rabbinic Leadership Lab at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. His research emerges at the intersections of higher education administration, ecumenical and interreligious studies, and leadership theory.

The Rev. Dr. Loida I. Martell is vice president of Academic Affairs and dean emerita, and professor of Constructive Theology Emerita of Lexington Theological Seminary. Dr. Martell served as the 18th VPAA/Dean of Lexington Theological Seminary and joined its faculty in August 2017, and retired in August 2025.  

Rubén David is a Puerto Rican theologian and Ph.D. candidate at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, whose work sits at the intersection of decolonial thinking, Latin American liberation theology, and masculinity studies. He is a Visiting Professor at Lexington Theological Seminary and the Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico, Chief Editor of the Baptist Peacemaker, and a two-time recipient of the Forum for Theological Exploration Doctoral Fellowship (2024–2025) and the 2024 Louisville Institute Honorary Dissertation Fellowship.

Robert P. Jones is the president and founder of Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book is Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation after the Christian Turn Against Democracy. 

Jones writes weekly at Redeeming Democracy, a newsletter focused on religion, pluralism, and democracy. He also writes regularly on politics, culture, and religion for TIME, The Atlantic, Religion News Service, and other outlets. He is frequently featured in major national media, such as CNN, NPR, The New York Times, and others. He is also the author of The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy; White Too Long, which won a 2021 American Book Award; and The End of White Christian America, which won the 2019 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. He was endorsed as an Exceptional Global Talent by the British Academy in 2025 and elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2026. He holds a Ph.D. in religion from Emory University and an MDiv from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Dr. James W. Perkinson is a long-time activist and educator who has lived for 40 years as a settler on Three Fires land in inner-city Detroit.  He holds a PhD in theology from the University of Chicago and is currently teaching as Professor of Social Ethics at the Ecumenical Theological Seminary. He is the author of six books including Political Spirituality in the Face of Climate Collapse: Of Monsters, Megaliths, Mules, and Muck; Political Spirituality for a Century of Water Wars: The Angel of the Jordan Meets the Trickster of Detroit; Political Spirituality in an Age of Eco-Apocalypse: Communication and Struggle Across Species, Cultures. He also has written two books of poetry and is a recognized artist on the spoken-word poetry scene in the inner city.   

Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is the co-host of BJC’s Respecting Religion podcast and the author of How to End Christian Nationalism. 

Rev. Moya Harris serves as senior director of programs at Sojourners, a nonprofit organization and progressive Christian publication that explores the intersection of faith, politics, and culture. Her work centers on programs related to voter protection, racial justice, and narrative formation. She also serves as an itinerant elder within the African Methodist Episcopal Church and is a staff member at Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C. 

Rev. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Towson University and a Master of Divinity from Payne Theological Seminary. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Christian Theological Seminary, with a focus on African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric. Having spent more than 27 years as a registered nurse before retiring, she has successfully merged her two greatest passions: ministry and academic pursuits. Her educational path reflects her deep curiosity and love of learning. 

Rev. Dr. Willie Dwayne Francois III serves as senior pastor of the Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, New Jersey, and president of the Black Church Center for Justice and Equality—a national think tank and policy advocacy organization. Recently, he was elected third vice president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. 

New York Theological Seminary appointed Francois as director of the Master of Professional Studies Program at Sing-Sing and Bedford Hills Correctional Facilities and Associate Professor of Liberation Theology.

His second book, titled Silencing White Noise: Six Practices to Overcome our Inaction on Race, was released in August 2022 through Brazos Press. His upcoming book, tentatively titled Outing Blue Privilege: A Call for Public Love when Public Safety is Not Enough, is under contract with Oris Books.

Francois' pastoral activism takes shape around racial equity, economic justice, and criminal justice reform. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Religion, holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, and earned a Doctor of Ministry from Emory University.