Resources & Colleagues

This page houses helpful links and resources that have been meaningful for me. Perhaps you’ll find them helpful, too. I am always adding new ones as I learn about them, so if you have a suggestion, let me know.

Mepkin Abbey: Mepkin is a Trappist monastery in Monck’s Corner, South Carolina, outside Charleston. It is an incredible community whose retreat center has become a key place of refuge and growth for me.

The Center for Spiritual Imagination: I commend to you the work of this wonderful ministry of the Community of the Incarnation, centered at the Cathedral of the Incarnation in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

The Foundation for New Monasticism & InterSpirituality- I commend this resource to you, the ongoing work began by Rory McEntee, Netanel Miles-Yepez, and Adam Bucko.

Contemplate This! Podcast– this is the rich work of Dr. Thomas J. Bushlack.  Tom hosts wonderful conversations, and you should explore his work.

Peace for Hearts— this is the blog site for the incredible Dr. Lerita Coleman Brown, professor emerita at Agnes Scott College, spiritual director, and Howard Thurman student and scholar.

Benedictus  Contemplative Church – search here for a phenomenal embodiment of a contemplative ethos within a worshiping community in Canberra, Australia.  My friend the Rev. Sarah Bachelard, an Anglican priest  and coordinator for the World Community for Christian Meditation.

A Waking Heart– this wonderful blog site by my friend the Rev. Matthew Wright, an Episcopal priest in Woodstock, NY and colleague in The New Contemplatives Exchange.  Incredible stuff here…

St. Benedict’s Monastery, Snowmass, CO.  This monastic community has become another piece of my heart, since our time there with the New Contemplatives Exchange.  An amazing community for retreats, prayer, conversation….and silence and contemplation.

New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, a Camaldolese Benedictine monastery.  The Camaldolese tradition has become very important for me, with its emphasis on holding together the eremitic (solitary) and coenobitic (communal) elements of the Christian monastic tradition.

The Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation I recommend the many opportunities for spiritual formation and guidance offered by the phenomenal Shalem staff.  A true place for growth and a deepening trust in the Spirit’s guidance.

The Center for Action and Contemplation  The work of the CAC is spot on when it comes to the development of an “alternative orthodoxy,” drawing on the work of Richard Rohr, Cynthia Bourgeault, and James Finley.

The World Community for Christian Meditation The WCCM carries forth the teaching legacy of John Main, OSB, who developed the mantra-based Christian meditation practice that has now, with Laurence Freeman, OSB, blossomed into a world-wide community.

Contemplative Outreach Here, you can explore the work of Thomas Keating, OCSO, William Meninger, OSCO, and the community that continues the development of Centering Prayer around the world.

The Society for the Increase of Ministry (SIM), my friend and colleague Dr. Courtney Cowart is now the Executive Director of SIM, a wonderful resource for leadership development and scholarship support for seminarians and leaders in The Episcopal Church.

Gravity:  A Center for Contemplative Activism   Here, you can explore the work of this community as they reflect on ways to integrate a deeper embodiment of Christ’s love with a grounding in contemplative prayer.

The Work of the People— a wonderful resource for reflections, videos, and teaching tools to foster conversation and engagement.

The Society of St. John the Evangelist:  a men’s monastic order in The Episcopal Church, a wonderful site for resources on prayer and integrating monastic practices into everyday life.

Mary & Martha’s Place: At Mary & Martha’s Place explores concepts of spiritual transformation and provide a place where people can learn to put these ideas into practice. In these times of change in the culture, the church, and our personal lives, MMP is a center for resilience and vision that helps people stay grounded. We provide intentionally designed, complex, in-depth programs using a diverse network of teachers and thinkers.

The Trust for the Meditation Process: Our mission is to encourage meditation, mindfulness and contemplative prayer. All of the Trust’s work reflects three basic principles: the radical need for contemplative practice to help us heal our fractured world, the need for the West to uncover its own contemplative traditions, and small efforts matter.

Encountering Silence— Encountering Silence explores the beauty and importance of silence from many angles, not just the religious/spiritual/mystical, but also reflecting on the psychology of silence, silence and the arts, silence and politics, silence and education… the list goes on. For a topic that we often don’t devote a lot of time and energy to, silence certainly has an important (if quiet!) role in all our lives. The hosts are Carl McColman, Cassidy Hall, and Kevin Johnson.