Tolbert McCarroll

Tolbert McCarroll, better known as "Brother Toby", has lived by Meister Eckhart's adage that what a person acquires by contemplation should be spent in compassion. He is a highly respected spiritual guide for people on many paths and journeys.

An award-winning author of 10 books, including, A WINTER WALK, NOTES FROM THE SONG OF LIFE, CHILDSONG, MONKSONG, and SEASONS. Brother Toby also writes a weekly Friday Reflection for a growing list of readers on many life paths (www.starcross.org/reflections). His upcoming work is STEPPING STONES: Daily Reflections By An Unconventional Monk.

Brother Toby, together with his colleagues Sister Marti Aggeler and Sister Julie DeRossi, founded the ecumenical Starcross Monastic Community (www.starcross.org). A former attorney for humanitarian causes, he has for 50 years, ventured forth in response to children and others in need.

The adoptive father of several children, he established homes for children oppressed by the AIDS pandemic in California, Romania and Uganda.

At Starcross he writes daily. In recent years he has had a special concern for the spiritually wounded and those disappointed by their faith communities. At 85 he is increasingly looking for God in the ordinary moments of life. Despite occasional medical challenges, he takes great delight in his children, David and Holly, his grandson, Damien, nature, a cup of tea, music, his greenhouse, the olive groves, and his cat, Tigger.