Guest Profile

Sarah Bowen

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. 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.

Her new book, Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain’s Advice For Surviving Animal Loss, Making Life Meaningful, & Healing The Planet, contains tools for surviving animal loss and mindfully extending compassion to the 8.7 million other species we share this interdependent planet with. (April 12, 2022, Monkfish Publishing).

Sarah is also on the faculty of One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, where she encourages people to align their spiritual values with animal and planetary welfare. In addition, she has presented on animal death and interspecies spirituality in a wide range of venues, including United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Compassion Arts Festival, Pace E Bene’s Campaign Nonviolence Action Week, The Spiritual Forum, and numerous podcasts.

An award-winning author, she authored two books on modern spirituality, including Spiritual Rebel: A Positively Addictive Guide to Finding Deeper Perspective and Higher Purpose. 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, April 2022). She is a columnist on animal/human relationships for Spirituality & Health magazine, and her work has appeared in Parabola, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, Elephant Journal, mindbodygreen, and a wide range of spirituality media.