Award-winning Author & Animal Chaplain
MEET SARAH
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―where she leads the Animal Chaplaincy Training program. 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. An RNS Vatican News Reporter featured her response to Pope Francis’s suggestion that having pets is selfish.
​
An award-winning author, 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). A columnist on animal/human relationships for Spirituality & Health magazine, Bowen’s work has also appeared in Parabola, Tricycle, Religion Dispatches, Psychology Today, and Animal Culture Magazine.
​
​A passionate speaker and teacher, Bowen has presented for the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Spiritual Directors International, Best Friends National Conference, and the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.
Sarah is also an academic dean at One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, where she encourages emerging clergy to align their spiritual values with animal and planetary welfare.
Sarah holds a BA in Human Ecology from Michigan State University, MA in Religious Studies from Chicago Theological Seminary, was ordained through One Spirit Interfaith Seminary, completed Emerson Theological's Passmore Animal Chaplain Program, and is joyfully engaged in postgraduate research in Humane Religious Studies and Anthrozoology.
Instagram @modernreverend
REVIEWS
UPCOMING CLASSES & EventS
Tuesdays, January 14, 21, 28 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM CT | Hosted by the Infinity Foundation via Zoom | 6 CEUs available | Explore creative practices, interspecies meditations, and powerful rituals, to help your animal companions and wildlife in your habitat thrive.
Two-Part Workshop, February 2 & 23, 2025 | From Sacred Sendoffs | Discover three simple yet powerful tools to hep you understand what your dog or cat is telling you.
CREATIVE ANIMAL COMMUNICATION
FOR CURIOUS BEGINNERS
Begins September 2025 | From Compassion Consortium | 9 month Certification Course |
Channel your passion for animals and the planet into a caring and supportive vocation. Animal chaplains provide support for both animals and humans by using ritual, ceremony, and the tools of spiritual companionship. Train with Sarah Bowen and a wide range of subject-matter experts. The ACT program is non-denominational and does not require students to have a specific religious or spiritual outlook. It will, though, prepare you to work with a diverse set of belief systems, so that you can support people regardless of their own outlook.​ Our next cohort begins classes September 2025. Learn more or schedule a consult with our program director by clicking below.