minister & friends
Rev. Bonnie Tarwater
Rev. Bonnie Tarwater is the Minister of the Church for Our Common Home, a home-based, internet, and radio church. Ordained in 1999, she has served both Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ congregations. She holds an M.Div. from Claremont School of Theology, an M.F.A. from the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, a B.A. in Visual Art from UC San Diego, and a certificate in Dream Work from the Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work.
She is co-chair of the International Association for the Study of Dreams, San Diego Group, and currently leads therapy groups with her husband, Dr. Walter Rutherford.
Rev. Bonnie (www.revbonnietarwater.com — currently under construction) is available as a Spiritual Director, Pastoral Counselor, Dream Worker, and Guest Preacher/Teacher. She also officiates at weddings, funerals, and other rituals and offers workshops on spirituality, creativity, and ecological consciousness.
In June 2015, she collaborated with Dr. John B. Cobb Jr. on the Seizing an Alternative conference, which focused on the ecological crisis. Inspired by this work, she committed to furthering her ministry for the care of our common home. She contributed a chapter to For Our Common Home, edited by Cobb and Ignacio Castuera, in response to Pope Francis’s radical environmental teaching, Laudato Si’.
Rev. Bonnie believes that every crisis is an invitation for spiritual growth. Together with her husband, Walt Rutherford, she is dedicated to creating a new experimental home church in this time of global crisis, committed to spiritual growth and raising human consciousness.
She is also the proud mother of two grown sons: Ben, married to Ariel, and David, soon to be married to Jessica.
Walt Rutherford, Ph.D.
Walt Rutherford, Ph.D., has worked in the fields of counseling, consulting, and academic instruction for more than forty years.
After serving as a combat platoon leader in the Vietnam War, he returned home and joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War, where he began his lifelong work for peace. He went on to work clinically with veterans and other survivors of violence and abuse, including those struggling with addiction and trauma.
In 1979, Walt was named Director of one of the first Vet Centers in the nation, in Vermont, where he began his groundbreaking study of the phenomenon later identified as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). To this day, he is recognized as a pioneer in the research and treatment of PTSD, having counseled more than 3,000 veterans and their families.
In the late 1980s, Walt began an intense study of Tibetan Buddhism and its medical approaches. Since then, he has taught these principles widely and developed programs in Tibetan Buddhist Psychology at several universities.
As a Transpersonal Psychologist, Walt emphasizes the need to treat the whole person—mind, body, and spirit.
ADVISORY BOARD - Dr. John B. Cobb Jr
An American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist, he is the preeminent scholar of process thought. He taught at the Claremont School of Theology from 1958 to 1990. Together with David Griffin, he co-founded the Center for Process Studies, which has since grown to include centers in China and many other countries.
The author of more than 50 books, he was the guiding force behind the 2015 “Seizing an Alternative” conference, which explored how a Whiteheadian worldview can contribute to addressing the challenges of climate change.