Welcome back to season three of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. We are your hosts, Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannenfelser, and we’re so excited to set the scene for the rest of the season in this episode. We’ll be shifting the dialogue away from the method of centering prayer and centering prayer as a practice that leads us to a form of personal transformation into the impact of centering prayer on our relationship with others. In particular, our relationship with others inside and outside of...

Welcome back to season three of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts! This season, we're shifting our focus to explore the later teachings of Thomas Keating. Our conversations will feature interspiritual and interreligious insights from guests representing various spiritual traditions. These dialogues will be guided by theological principle #11: “We affirm our solidarity with the contemplative dimension of other religions and sacred traditions. United in our common search for God, we respect and...

Welcome back to the final episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts for this season! We have enjoyed the thought-provoking conversations we’ve had with our guests this season and today we are excited to speak with Cynthia Bourgealt. Cynthia is a modern-day mystic, Episcopal priest, writer, and internationally known retreat leader. She divides her time between solitude and sailing the waters around her seaside hermitage in Maine, and a demanding schedule traveling globally to teach and spread...

Centering Prayer is a practice that changes the way we see the world from the inside out and is important for our well-being both physically and mentally. To help us reflect on this important principle, we are excited to welcome Fr. Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world. Fr. Greg was born and raised in Los Angeles and was a Jesuit priest from 1986 to 1992. He served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church,...

Today we will discuss the evolving and expanding community of Contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer. We have a special guest, The Very Reverend Michael Battle, Ph.D. a theologian, professor, author, and speaker. He is the author of 11 books including his most recent title, Desmond Tutu, A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor. We explore “ubuntu” the African proverb that teaches we are all interdependent on one another. We also explore how we can expand the contemplative life...

On today’s episode, we will explore the changing needs of Christian contemplatives through a thought-provoking conversation with our guest, Keith Kristich. Keith is a writer, retreat leader, and founder of the online contemplative community, Closer Than Breath. His mission is to help people unlearn rigid religion, reimagine what is divine, and see God everywhere. Keith is a commissioned presenter of Centering Prayer through Contemplative Outreach and trained with the Shalem Institute for...

On today’s episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we hear from Dr. Rory McEntee, a religion scholar and philosopher-theologian working at an intersection of contemplative life, education, social justice, and culture. Today we will discuss the support and difficulties that come with being in community, how empathy comes from our own uniqueness and manifestation of God on Earth, and what Rory feels is the greatest challenge of our time. To connect further with Dr. Rory McEntee: Visit his...

On today’s episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we are delighted to welcome Heather Ruce who will help us dive into the deepening practice of Centering Prayer, a Wisdom Spiritual Director who facilitates Wisdom Practices and hosts retreats at schools focused on the Christian Wisdom Tradition. Heather weaves the lineage of teacher, Cynthia Bourgeault, into her work and training including Family Systems Therapy, Systematic Experiencing, Organic Intelligence, and her spiritual direction....

On today’s episode, we speak with Gigi Ross, who began practicing Centering Prayer after attending an introductory workshop in 1998. Gigi has been a Spiritual Director since 2000 and worked as an Associate Director at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Foundation. She also served on the leadership team for Contemplative Outreach of Maryland and Washington from 2003 to 2005. She is currently working at the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) as the Living School Student Experience...

On today’s episode, we talk with Phileena Nikole who is well known in contemplative communities and spaces where she works as a Spiritual Director and Centering Prayer Practitioner. Phileena spent her early adult life in social justice work with poor and marginalized communities. This work led her to more than 70 countries where she helped to build community among victims of human trafficking, HIV and AIDS survivors, abandoned children, child soldiers, and war brides. She is passionate about...

On this episode, we welcome Mary Dwyer who has been practicing Centering Prayer for over 30 years. In the early 1990’s she lived in Chrysalis House, a contemplative community experiment blessed by Father Thomas, which became an incubator of practice and programs in the early years of growth for Contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer. She attended Georgetown University and majored in economics, later she went back to school and became a licensed social worker. Mary is currently in private...

In today’s episode, we welcome Father Justin Lanier, a Priest in the Episcopal Church. He was born in Louisiana and grew up in Delaware where he went to Methodist, Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches. Early in his formation, Father Justin entered the St. Benedict’s Trappist monastery community in Snowmass under Abbot Joseph Boyle where Father Thomas Keating was resident. Fr. Justin was under the direction of these two men until their deaths in 2018. Fr. Justin was also sent to train in a...

Welcome back to season two of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. We are your hosts, Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannenfelser and our hope this season is to open the door for you to explore more deeply this powerful practice of Centering Prayer. Each week we will talk with a guest from the contemplative community and unpack Father Thomas Keating’s principle: “Contemplative Outreach is an evolving community with an expanding vision and deepening practice of Centering Prayer that serves the changing...

Welcome back to season two of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. Co-host Mark Dannenfelser and Colleen Thomas framed their conversation around one of Thomas Keating's guiding principles: “Contemplative Outreach is an evolving community with an expanding vision and deepening practice of Centering Prayer that serves the changing needs of Christian contemplatives.” Throughout the season, Mark and Colleen will unpack this principle with guests who are involved in the evolving contemplative...

Today, on this final episode of the first season of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, our guest is Mark Kutolowski. He is an oblate of Saint Benedict and a Centering Prayer instructor committed to supporting the revitalization of Christian contemplation. Mark and his wife are the co-directors of Metanoia of Vermont, a lay contemplative homestead and ministry that seeks to nurture the way of Christ through work and prayer in relationship with the land. We discuss Mark's personal interactions with...

On Today’s episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we welcome internationally acclaimed speaker, author, poet and translator of spiritual texts, Carmen Acevedo Butcher. Today she shares her thoughts on Centering Prayer practice, self-compassion, community with others, and how trauma can be turned into connection through meditation and contemplation. To connect further with Carmen Acevedo Butcher Visit her website: https://www.carmenbutcher.com/ Visit her Linktree:...

On this episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, Pastor Tia Norman, shares her perspective on incorporating gentleness during the practice of Centering Prayer, the relationship flow between prayer and the divine, and her thoughts on being a woman of color in the contemplative community. Tia is a teacher and guide specializing in the spirituality and practices anchored in the mystical teachings of the Christan Contemplative tradition. She serves as the Pastor of Awakenings, a contemplative...

On this episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we are excited to welcome a friend of Contemplative Outreach, Father Adam Bucko. He shares how Father Thomas Keating helped shape his work and inspired him to write his new book Let Your Heartbreak be Your Guide: Lessons in Engaged Contemplation. We discuss how trauma can change how one practices Centering Prayer and the discernment that comes with remaining silent or speaking out against social justice. Father Bucko also shares his experience...

On this episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we are excited to welcome a friend of Contemplative Outreach, Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown. She walks us through how we can center down during our contemplative time so that we can focus on the silent space where we can hear from God instead of the chatter that pulls us away from stillness. She also encourages us to have an accurate self portrayal of ourselves and strengthen our inner, so that the prejudice and perceptions of others cannot enter....

On this very first episode of Opening Minds, Opening Hearts, we speak with author and spiritual leader, Carl Mcloman. Carl walks us through a deeper understanding of the relationships and distinctions between mystical traditions, Christian meditation, contemplation and Centering Prayer. He also helps us accept our humanness while building a healthy daily practice using silence, sacred words and the four guidelines of Centering Prayer as stated by Father Thomas Keating. Carl sees the elegance...

Are you seeking to deepen your interior life through the practice of Centering Prayer? Do you have a desire to develop a closer connection to the divine as well as those around you? Opening Minds, Opening Hearts is a podcast for both the curious meditator and long-time practitioner of Centering Prayer. On each episode, hosts Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannenfelser will reflect on the method of Centering Prayer with some friends of Contemplative Outreach who share their personal experiences of...