THE REMARKABLE FATHER CHARLES BRANDT

A priest, a hermit, and an environmental activist walked into a forest . . .

It is early morning with its quiet coolness. I walk out the old logging road where i practice walking meditation. Although it is the path to nowhere, it enables me to enter in communion with the whole community of beings.
Self and Environment, Charles Brandt


 
Wearing hip waders in the deeper pools of the Tsolum River in late summer of 2016, I was happily counting returning salmon as a volunteer when I first heard about the remarkable Father Charles Brandt. I learned that Charles, as he was known to friends, had fought hard to have the river recognized as being “dead” by the BC government [and to restore its health – Ed.].

A triumphant year for the Tsolum River


That year, 2016, would be a triumphant one for the Tsolum—the highest salmon count since the river was poisoned by a copper mine near Mount Washington that had been abandoned in 1967. The Tsolum was now teeming with fish, after decades of persistent and costly restoration of the sensitive salmon habitat.

Years later, I would discover Charles Brandt’s legendary hermitage nestled in a lush forest along the Oyster River, close to my home. I felt mystically called to it, and to learn more about this man who had worked hard to restore the Tsolum.

The Hermitage

The early life and spiritual journey of Father Charles Brandt


Charles Brandt, once a student of ornithology and wildlife conservation, became an Anglican priest in 1952. His spiritual quest then drew him to Catholicism and the work of the well-known American hermit, Trappist monk, and author Thomas Merton, who became his spiritual mentor. In a 1964 letter, Merton encouraged Brandt to pursue a solitary, contemplative life rather than entering a monastery.

In 1965, Brandt found his way to Vancouver Island and joined a group of Catholic hermits living along the Tsolum River. The next year, he was ordained as the first Roman Catholic hermit priest in nearly 200 years. After the hermit group disbanded, Brandt moved his cabin to its present location on 27 acres above the Oyster River, in a recently logged forest that would grow wild around him and his hermitage, known as Merton House, for the next 50 years.


The natural world is a sacred place.

–Charles Brandt


A life of ecological concern and spiritual practice

Brandt worked as an antiquities book and paper conservator of international note, a book binder, and expert on rare book restoration. He taught Christian meditation practice and led retreats; occasionally he filled in as a parish priest. As a passionate environmentalist and gifted photographer, he believed that many contemporary ecological issues could be traced back to a lost sense of the sacredness of the natural world.

He lived a life that balanced contemplation with ecological concern and action. He devoted hours daily to prayer and meditation, but also worked towards the conservation of salmon and trout stocks by creating the Tsolum and Oyster River societies. As Willa Cannon, the chairperson of the Brandt Oyster River Hermitage Society (BORHS), notes: “He devoted his life to protect and preserve natural habitats and inspired generations of volunteers to work together for the forests and rivers.”

The conservation legacy of Father Charles Brandt

In 2019, Brandt granted a conservation covenant on his property to the Comox Valley Land Trust (CVLT) to protect the forest in perpetuity as a quiet and soothing place to commune with nature. “Father Charles worked closely with the CVLT to establish a conservation covenant to ensure protection of the property’s unique ecological and cultural values,” says Mark Harrison, Manager of Parks for the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD), adding, “The Brandt Oyster River Hermitage Society was founded to carry on Father Charles’ legacy and now a park has been created as per his wishes.” With today’s climate issues and climate anxiety, a contemplative space is needed more than ever. The society will provide maintenance and oversight of a new contemplative residence program at the hermitage, as well as access to the Brandt archives. Retreats, meetings, and seminars on spiritual ecology will become available over the next 10 years.

The Hermitage

Father Charles Brandt’s recognition and lasting impact

In 2017, Brandt received a BC Community Achievement Award (given to “extraordinary British Columbians”). In 2020, not long before his death at age 97, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature. “His decision to leave his property to the CVRD as parkland, with a conservation covenant held by the Land Trust that will protect it forever, sets a strong example for others,” says Tim Ennis, Executive Director of the CVLT. Along with a cleaner Tsolum River, this one-of-a-kind park will be one of the most enduring legacies of Father Charles Brandt’s unwavering environmental stewardship work on Vancouver Island.

A formal park opening will be held once the CVRD has completed a management plan. Visit charlesbrandt.ca for more information.