Is Centering Prayer Catholic? by Connie Rossini
What is Centering Prayer? What are its origins? Is it a form of New Age meditation, or a thoroughly Catholic prayer method that can lead to contemplation? Connie Rossini digs into the writings and public statements of Fr. Thomas Keating, one of Centering Prayer’s foremost proponents. She compares his words with the writings of St. Teresa of Avila on prayer, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on New Age spirituality.
The second edition, released in October 2018, contains a Foreword by Dr. Anthony Lilles, Dean of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California and of the Avila Institute for Spiritual Formation. It also responds to Kess Frey’s defense of Centering Prayer against critics in his book Bridge across Troubled Waters.
Chapters Include:
- The History of Centering Prayer
- Prayer in Scripture
- Prayer and Belief
- The Method of Centering Prayer
- The Nature of Contemplation
- The Stages of Prayer Growth
- Prayer for Beginners
- Dark Nights
- The Prayer of Union
- Signs of Prayer Growth
- Lectio Divina
- Grogginess in Prayer
- Clearing the Mind
- Prayer as Conversation
- The Purpose of Prayer
- The Focus of Prayer
- The Distinction Between God and Man
- Our Ability to Know God
- What is Man?
- Sin or Psychological Problems?
- Sin or Ignorance?
- Plus responses to Kess Frey’s objections regarding apophatic prayer, spiritual evolution, contemplation in Scripture and the Catechism, the self-in-God, intent and consent, and much more.
Available at Amazon.com and major online retailers.