“Is a River Alive?” When told the title of his new book, author Robert Macfarlane’s ten-year-old son had an immediate answer, “Well, duh, that’s going to be a short book then, Dad…because the answer is yes!” For those of us beyond our childhood, the question might be more complex. 

Join us during the Season of Creation for a lively and thought-provoking conversation about Robert Macfarlane’s Is a River Alive?, a powerful exploration of rivers, the communities connected to them and the growing movement to recognize the natural world in new ways.

Through vivid storytelling and journeys across landscapes and cultures, Macfarlane invites us to consider a fascinating question: What changes when we think of a river not simply as a resource, but as something alive?

Our book club will meet three times, with each gathering focusing on the one of the three river stories that Macfarlane unfolds in the book’s three sections:

September 8, 2026	The Los Cedros, the River of the Cedars, in the Cloud Forest of Ecuador
September 22, 2026	The Kosasthalaiyar, Cooum, and Adyar, three rivers that merge in Chennai, India
October 6, 2026	The Mutehekau Shipu in Quebec

Come for one, two or all three — you don’t need to attend every session to take part. Each conversation will offer its own opportunity to reflect, share and connect with others.

Together, we’ll explore themes of relationship, responsibility and the rights of nature, connecting them with our Passionist commitment to care for Earth and respond to the cry of creation. The Season of Creation offers a special opportunity to deepen that commitment and consider how our faith calls us into greater relationship with our common home.

Come ready to share, listen and wonder together: What can rivers teach us about our place within creation — and how might they inspire us to care for God’s Creation with greater love, hope and action?