About the Vests

Doug and Norvene often work together as husband and wife, having co-led numerous workshops and eleven pilgrimages to Europe, as well as working out many ideas collaboratively. Both are authors and spiritual directors, interested particularly in ongoing life formation in the spirit. Both are oblates (affiliates) of St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, CA, and are deeply committed to Benedictine values.

Douglas is a priest in the Episcopal Church, having been a research physicist for 17 years prior. As priest, Doug was pastoral minister in two program sized parishes (9 years); administrative priest for one corporation sized parish (6 years) and diocesan chaplain to clergy and seminarians (8 years). While one never stops being a priest, Doug now enjoys occasional parish supply work and served as field guide at the Los Angeles County Arboretum as punctuation to his primary involvements in writing poetry, gardening, hiking and woodcarving. He continues to serve as spiritual director, retreat and workshop leader, consultant on congregational relations, and author.

Doug describes himself as a generalist, with degrees in five different disciplines ranging from Chemical Engineering to Physics to Spiritual Formation from Duquesne University, the Episcopal Theological School, Johns Hopkins, the Naval Academy Postgraduate School, and the University of Cincinnati.

Norvene has recently completed a Ph.D. in Mythology in the tradition of Depth Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, with her dissertation on the subject of a mythic approach to Christianity through the lenses of the imagination, feminism and the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. Dr. Vest is particularly interested in a progressive Christian third way between conservative orthodoxy and secular disbelief. She grounds this interest not only in her recent scholarship, but also in her previous degree work in theology and political theory.

Norvene is a spiritual director, author, and workshop leader. She is author of six books on Benedictine spirituality for oblates, including a devotional commentary on the Rule (Preferring Christ), reflections on work (Friend of the Soul) and guidelines for group lectio divina (Gathered in the Word), and is also editor/contributor to two books on contemporary issues in spiritual direction (Still Listening and Tending the Holy). A primary focus of her work for many years is on deepening our relationship with God, both drawing on ancient Christian practices, especially Benedictine spirituality, and adapting them in light of contemporary demands. Norvene is an Episcopal laywoman, an oblate of St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, California, and a founding member of the Center for Christian Spirituality-West.

She is an inspirational speaker, having previously been public servant, political appointee, and mortgage banker involved in housing and community development work, including authorship of the California Statewide Housing Plan and administration of the 300 person California Department of Housing and Community Development. She enjoys indigenous art, music, and needlework.