Pádraig Ó Tuama
Sat, Jan 31
|Palo Alto
Pádraig Ó Tuama, distinguished Irish poet, theologian and mediator, with interests in conflict, language and religion and the host of Poetry Unbound, will be visiting All Saints to talk about "Borders and Belonging". There will be a morning retreat, an evening public discussion and book signing.
Time and Location
Jan 31, 2026, 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Palo Alto, 555 Waverley St, Palo Alto, CA 94301, USA
About the event
Pádraig will be part of two events on January 31st.
Morning retreat with Pádraig: 10 am to 1 pm. Cost: $30 (for food)
Capacity: 75 people
Theme: Changed at border crossings
An exploration on how crossing borders in our lives change us. They may be geographical borders, cultural, linguistic, religious, economic, race or any number of borders that we constantly seem to create. In the light of the Christian good news of a border crossing Savior, how can we, as a faith community, engage in hope with the bitter conflicts that emerge from the notion of “borders security”?
Tickets: Morning retreat with Pádraig
Evening event with Pádraig: 6:30 PM Cost: $20 (Donation toward the Food Closet Ministry)
Capacity: 300 people
Theme: Borders and Belonging—A necessary faith conversation
In a world marked by contentious borders, riven with suspicion and animosity, stories of kindness, generosity and redefined belonging endure. These human stories serve as illuminators on the path toward a future of greater belonging and embrace of all. You are invited to be a part of the conversation to explore the question and imagination of transforming conflict to belonging and embrace through the lens of Pádraig's recent book, Borders and Belonging. This conversation will be facilated by The Rt. Rev. Jeff R Johnson, Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Tickets: Evening event with Pádraig
About Pádraig
Pádraig Ó Tuama (b. 1975 Cork, Ireland) is a poet with interests in conflict, language and religion. He presents Poetry Unbound from On Being Studios, and has published two anthologies (2022, 2025, both with WW Norton) from that podcast. In early 2025 Copper Canyon Press published Kitchen Hymns, his fourth poetry collection. A freelance artist, one of Ó Tuama’s projects is poet in residence with the Cooperation and Conflict Resolution Center at Columbia University.
Padraig’s poetry and prose center around themes of language, power, conflict, and religion. His work has won acclaim in circles of petty, politics, psychotherapy, and conflict analysis. Profiled in the ’New Yorker’, Padraig’s poems have been featured in Poetry Ireland Review, Ploughshares, Academy of American Poets, Hard Review, New England Review, and the Kenyon Review.
He splits his time between Belfast and New York City.
Photo © : David Pugh
About Bishop Jeff Johnson
The Rev. Jeff R. Johnson serves as the 6th Bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He was elected in 2023. Prior to his call as bishop, he served for over two decades as pastor of University Lutheran Chapel of Berkeley, a campus ministry at the University of California, Berkeley, and earlier at First United Lutheran Church in San Francisco. Ordained extra ordinem in 1990, he helped found what became Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, advocating for the full inclusion of LGBTQIA+ pastors in the ELCA. Bishop Johnson earned degrees from California Lutheran University and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary. He lives in Oakland with his husband, and enjoys music, family, cooking, and travel.