Are these authors orthodox?

[WeBeBnd]

My friend is starting to come back to the Catholic faith. Unfortunately, she has always leaned to the New Age side of things. Today she told me she was reading books by Fr. Thomas Keating and by Sr. Barbara Fiand, and loving them. From what I can find, Sr. Fiand may be VERY un-orthodox, if not down right heretical and Fr. Keating teaches Centered Prayer, which may or may not be problematic. Does anyone have any knowledge of these two?
Thanks.

 

[ncjohn]

WeBeBnd:

My friend is starting to come back to the Catholic faith. Unfortunately, she has always leaned to the New Age side of things. Today she told me she was reading books by Fr. Thomas Keating and by Sr. Barbara Fiand, and loving them. From what I can find, Sr. Fiand may be VERY un-orthodox, if not down right heretical and Fr. Keating teaches Centered Prayer, which may or may not be problematic. Does anyone have any knowledge of these two?
Thanks.

While I’m not familiar with the Sister, I am quite familiar with Thomas Keating. Without debating whether Centering Prayer is or isn’t appropriate for any individual, Fr Keating is extremely knowledgeable about the subject, and I have found the practice, properly understood and taught, to be very valuable in my spiritual journey.

Peace,

 

[Fidelis]

I don’t know what gets into some people. Here is an article about Sr. Fiand . Judge for yourself:

Sr. Fiand alleges that orthodox Catholic theology, obsessed with “speculative” statements of the Creed (e.g. “I believe in God, the Father almighty”), eclipses the mystery of the living God with mere concepts. The term “speculative” can mean “meditation upon profound truths”, or it can mean “conjecture”. Playing on the ambiguity between these two senses, Sr. Fiand insinuates that orthodox theology consists in so much guessing about God which fails to evoke zeal.

Sr. Fiand contrasts the orthodox mentality with an account of a physicist’s sudden awareness of being engaged in a gigantic cosmic dance, the dance of Shiva, a pagan Hindu god. Sr. Fiand proposes to replace the misguided orthodox conceptual framework based on theological “speculation” with an alternative conceptual framework based on psychological conjecture.
aquinas-multimedia.com/catherine/embrace.html

IMHO, I don’t think anything written by her should be set aside lightly — it should be thrown with great force! I’m not real enthusiatic about Fr. Keating, either.

If you friend imagines herself to be of a more mystical bent, you’d do well to introduce to true spiritual classics on prayer and meditation like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, or modern masters like Fr. Thomas Dubay.

 

[Catherine_Grant]

As this thread deals with books and authors, it was moved into the Popular Media forum. You should get the answers you are seeking here!