Can Catholics engage in Centering Prayer?

[Antigen]

I am getting conflicting information on this site about Center Prayer.

When Catholics repeat over and over again the short prayers of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and focus on the Blessed Sacrament, isn’t this a form of centering prayer except instead of centering on ourselves we are centering on God? Can Catholics engage in centering prayer?

 

[Peggy_Frye]

I believe the confusion is in the terms.

Prayer in the Christian life consists of the following:

1. Vocal prayer (Our Father, liturgical prayers, personal prayer, group prayer, etc.)
2. Meditation (Rosary, Chaplets, etc.)
3. Contemplative prayer (a union with the prayer of Christ)

While it’s true that Christian prayer is always centered on Christ, the term ‘centering prayer’ can also refer to the eastern/new age style prayer techniques as taught by Fr. Father Basil Pennington and Fr. Thomas Keating, founders of the Centering Prayer Movement.

For more information on the Centering Prayer Movement and on Christian prayer:

A Closer Look at Centering Prayer

The Danger of Centering Prayer and
here.

More articles on centering prayer.

Church documents:

Dangers of fusing Christian spirituality with eastern mysticism

Vatican and New Age

God bless you!