FACULTY
VISTA is honored to have these bright, creative, accomplished faculty on board. Check out their courses and offerings under Events.
CARLA FUNK
Carla Funk served as the Victoria’s inaugural poet laureate and has published five books of poetry, two memoirs, and is currently at work on a novel (pray for her!). After 15 years of teaching in UVic’s Writing Department, Carla now leads her own homemade writing classes and works as an editor and manuscript consultant She believes that inking words on a page can illuminate the manuscript of ordinary time, and that in the writing, truth and beauty can shine out of even the dark and hidden corners of our lives.
Find her at: https://www.carlafunk.com/
Vanessa Caruso
Vanessa Caruso is a spiritual director and supervisor based in Vancouver Island, Canada. She received a Master's degree in Spiritual Formation and Leadership, spiritual direction training through CenterQuest, and an Advanced Certificate in Supervision from Fordham University. Vanessa provides individual spiritual direction and facilitates group supervision for clients in North America, Australia, the UK, Philippines, and Singapore. She is also the assistant to the director of CenterQuest, training spiritual directors throughout Asia, and the co-director of Together in the Mystery, a supervision training program. She co-hosts the podcast Three Association for spiritual directors and supervisors, leads creative, contemplative retreats for children, youth, and adults, and teaches spiritual direction and supervision for a variety of programs.
She loves color, oceans, thrift stores, cherry pie, checking out books from the library and having stacks of them all around the house, weekly phone calls with Sarah, monthly group gatherings with friends, and road trips to her hometown of Santa Barbara, California with her family.
FIND HER AT WWW.DIRECTIONWITHVANESSA.COM.
Dr. Paul Teel
Paul has been a teacher at Pacific Christian Secondary for over 30 years, specializing in Calculus, Philosophy, and Biblical Studies. Somewhere in there he also enrolled at UVic and earned an MA and a PhD in philosophy, concentrating on the relationship between Christian theology and modern science. As a result, he was a guest lecturer at Regent College (a graduate school of theology in Vancouver) for nearly 20 years, including a stint on faculty for a program helping church leaders think about science in a more theologically robust and positive way.
Also during that time, Paul was the interim teaching pastor for one year at Saanich Community Church before joining the preaching roster at St. Barnabas Anglican Church. For the last two years, Paul has been one of the co-pastors at The Place Community Church. He and Heidi have been married for 34 years and have three adult daughters (and two sons-in-law!).
Heidi Teel
Heidi Teel has been thinking about and preparing food for her family and others for many years. Most recently, in her role as Interim Community Life Minister at St. Barnabas Church, she put together a booklet entitled The Sacred in the Mundane: Meals, Tables, Dishes and Rest. She has been married to her husband Paul for 33 years, and they have raised three (now adult) children—all good cooks! She is the co-author of A Time to Read: Good Books for Growing Readers (For Those Who Love Books, Children, and God).
Dt. Kathleen Busch
Dr Kathleen Busch is a pastor, spiritual director, artist, and the founder of VISTA- Vancouver Island School of Theology and the Arts. Kathleen holds a DMIN from George Fox University, a Master's in Theology from Regent College and a BA in Psychology from Trinity Western. She is also just beginning a Master's in Psychotherapy and Spirituality with a concentration in Art Therapy through St Stephen's College at the University of Alberta.