“I remember after a busy day of DivEx programming, I sat on the steps of Swartz Hall, feeling the sun on skin and just hearing this whisper from the Divine saying, ‘You belong here; here is a place that you will grow and get to know me better.’ And so I was just like, ‘Okay. I’m applying to Harvard Divinity School. This will be a place that will further my aspirations to do healing justice work.'”
As the daughter of a United Methodist preacher and Peruvian-Bolivian immigrant, Anna Del Castillo, MDiv ’21, grew up in a cultural fusion in Mississippi. Her spiritually rich upbringing, she says, set her trajectory toward continued change and activism.
“I grew up with the undocumented community,” Del Castillo says. “I grew up with the unhoused community, because that’s where my mom was doing her ministry.”
From her early childhood in the “overlooked and underserved” state of Mississippi, Del Castillo has been bearing witness to social inequities—inspired by the communities in which she dwelled and the southern racial justice activists that preceded her, such as Fannie Lou Hamer.
“People oftentimes think of Mississippi for the pain that was caused there, and I like to think about the beautiful movements for racial justice that were really birthed there,” she says. “And that birthed my own spirit of activism and desire to organize around issues of social justice.”
Del Castillo’s experiences in Mississippi lit a spiritual fire within her that eventually led her to Harvard.
“I really feel like the Divine led me to HDS. I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in justice-building and repairing the harms that impact so many historically underserved communities, because I belong to those communities, and those communities are the people that I love.”
Her first experience with Harvard Divinity School was through the Diversity and Explorations program, a three-day introduction to the programs and missions at HDS for students considering a career grounded in diversity and social change. She visited the School, met students and faculty, “and really got a glimpse into the magic of the people at HDS who are engaging in this work with spirit and kinship at the center, and who are asking really deep questions that I was interested in.”
Once arriving at HDS, Del Castillo’s academic and thesis advisor was Professor Diane Moore, Faculty Director for the Religion and Public Life program at HDS. Del Castillo says that Moore helped her think deeply about what peace is and how to authentically approach conflict and resolution.
Likewise, Melissa Bartholomew, Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging at HDS, shaped Del Castillo through conversations about language around diversity, inclusion, and belonging, and what it means to be a practitioner of justice.
“I look up to those two people so much," Del Castillo says. "Through my work with Professor Moore, I was able to visit Palestine with the 'Narratives of Belonging and Displacement' course, which really activated this urgency around not just studying movements for social justice at a fancy school, but actually asking: What am I committing to?”
Beyond the classroom, Del Castillo cites HDS as strengthening her relationship and connection with the Divine by helping her recognize the divinity within herself, teaching her practices such as sitting in stillness, engaging in reflective work, and connecting to internal wisdom.
“Until HDS, I was super insecure about my spiritual identity. I didn’t have a name for it because I’m not really religious, but I’m spiritual,” she says. “My relationship to the Divine is the most important thing to me.”
Being in a three-year program focused on meaning-making and spiritual, soulful practices helped the disconnect finally click for her.
“There’s not going to be one definition that I can put in a little box to describe how I relate to the Divine. I feel so much peace and joy about that…there aren’t a lot of places in the world that encourage curiosity and teach people how to look within.”
Del Castillo has stayed close to HDS since graduating, and she is now a climate justice researcher at Religion and Public Life, where she explores the role religion and spirituality play in the movement for environmental justice. Her work resides at the intersection of religion, climate, and racial justice, and she helps provide resources and opportunities for members of the HDS community to engage with climate justice.
“If I could describe my research, it is listening to students and thinking about how we could innovate ways for students who come through the doors of HDS to feel ready to tackle the climate catastrophe,” Del Castillo explains. “My other role that I just love so much and will continue to be part of my vocation is as a diversity, inclusion, and belonging practitioner.”
Del Castillo is currently leading DIB strategy and initiatives at HubSpot, a Cambridge-based company. These leadership experiences at HDS and in Cambridge have led Del Castillo to a new endeavor: Spearheading the HDS Climate Justice Week, April 10-14.
After inaugurating the fireside salons with HDS Writer-in-Residence Terry Tempest Williams in 2021, which was a small gathering space for grief-centered conversations and processing the impact of climate change, Del Castillo saw clearly that students were craving opportunities to go deeper with the conversation on climate justice and connect with one another on the matter.
Del Castillo called Williams one day with a new proposal: “I was like, we should just have a climate day at HDS where we can have these awesome speakers and do creative events.”
Williams took it a step further and suggested a full week.
“What is really beautiful about Climate Justice Week is that it’s a mosaic of the wisdom, appetite, and magic of HDS.”
Del Castillo and the rest of the leadership team hosted listening sessions with students and faculty engaged in climate-adjacent work from across HDS, while also communicating with every office at the School.
“The climate crisis is a deeply spiritual crisis that highlights the disconnection between not only our own species, humans, but also from all other species that exist on this planet. My intent for Climate Justice Week was to say, how can we really root in community and root in bonds with each other?”
The week will open and close with ceremony and circle, opting for communal ritual rather than passive listening. Del Castillo's other intent for the week is to center the voices and wisdom of indigenous leaders who are at the forefront of climate justice work.
“If we can learn from anyone, it is our indigenous community members who are leading conversations around what repair looks like,” she says.
The Student Organizing Committee has been mindful to engage in deep questions of whose voices should be centered in the week’s conversations. Del Castillo hopes that those who attend Climate Justice Week events will feel activated and hopeful, and that they “leave with their cups a little fuller.”
Noting the overwhelming and tragic nature of climate catastrophe, she is using the climate-centered week to bring hope into the heavy grief.
“I see this week as not only a time for activation and witness, but also as an opportunity to leave with joy and community," she says. "In order for this work to be sustainable, folks have to feel like they’re not alone and that there is power and hope in moving forward together.”
—by Cecily Powell Tolleson
Editor’s note: Climate Justice Week at HDS is April 10-14. More information on the events and timeline can be found on the HDS website.