Centering Prayer

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Bookcat said:
This is the information post from Catholic Answers Staff – one must direct concerns to them.
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So, it’s still wrong.

I do CP and have been for over 30 years. I have read Fr Keating’s Books and I also attend retreats at St Joseph’s Abbey where Fr Keating was once Abbot.

Nothing in those articles is what CP is actually about.

But again, we’re not suppose to converse on it.

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
So, it’s still wrong.

I do CP and have been for over 30 years. I have read Fr Keating’s Books and I also attend retreats at St Joseph’s Abbey where Fr Keating was once Abbot.

Nothing in those articles is what CP is actually about.

But again, we’re not suppose to converse on it.

Jim
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This is a discussion I cannot get into. If you have any questions or concerns or disagreement with the material posted by the Catholic Answers staff – you need to take it up with them.
 
I by the way, I went back to your links. The cautions about improper centering prayer by the moderator, Peggy, were very closely aligned to what I mentioned. We should be careful, when we are in disagreement with something, not to make claims by misrepresenting what someone with some authority has said.

Back to the OP’s question. Centering Prayer is not definitively condemned, outlawed, or banned by the Church, but caution is advised not to cross the line and confuse it with easter meditation or new age practices.

No need to respond, I’m through with this thread, agreeing only to disagree.

Your’s in Christ Jesus
 
Bookcat said:
This is a discussion I cannot get into. If you have any questions or concerns or disagreement with the material posted by the Catholic Answers staff – you need to take it up with them.
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But you have no problem pointing to the links which are anti-CP, despite their being misleading and outright false :rolleyes:

Jim
 
JimR-OCDS said:
But you have no problem point to the links which are anti-CP. :rolleyes:

Jim
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They are there for that reason --from Catholic Answers staff-- attached to the Bann. It is what the moderators suggest for forum persons to read.

I am not saying by pointing them out to readers that I per se endorse them all etc – for heck I have not read them all even. Simply pointing to the Moderators sticky info for info was sought.

I tried to go read in them just now and due to the move to the new website etc --many of them are broken links…

Again we really cannot discuss the matter per se. If one thinks that something is not correct etc or one disagrees --one can discuss the approach taken by Catholic Answers with them.
 
Luigi_Daniele said:
Alan,

My limited research suggests otherwise.

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=4037

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=60764

I, too, will not post in this thread again, Jim and Alan.
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I appreciate your not posting in the thread again, but I wish you had done so without the parting shot of links leading to incorrect information. I tracked down several of those articles and they all said the same old incorrect things about CP. This is one reason why the topic is banned. There is too much just plain wrong information about Pennington and Keating and CP out there to have a fair discussion. I say go to the source before criticizing it.

OK, resting again now…

Alan
 
Jeanne_S said:
What is the Churchs’ stance on “centering prayer”.A form of prayer much like trancendental meditation,only instead of a mantra one is to keep focus on Jesus name.I thought I read somewhere that thi is not approved by the CC.Thanks in advance for any replies.
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Rather than speaking about Centering Prayer, which we are not supposed to discuss, I would like to suggest these texts which I sincerely believe will help you develop a deeper and more fruitful prayer life based in the authentic Tradition of the Church.
  1. Earthen Vessels - The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition
  2. Toward God - The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer
  3. Sacred Reading - The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
  4. The Path of Life
Peace of Christ,
 
jwinch2 said:
Rather than speaking about Centering Prayer, which we are not supposed to discuss, I would like to suggest these texts which I sincerely believe will help you develop a deeper and more fruitful prayer life based in the authentic Tradition of the Church.
  1. Earthen Vessels - The Practice of Personal Prayer According to the Patristic Tradition
  2. Toward God - The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer
  3. Sacred Reading - The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina
  4. The Path of Life
Peace of Christ,
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#4 looks fantastic!
 
AlanFromWichita said:
I appreciate your not posting in the thread again, but I wish you had done so without the parting shot of links leading to incorrect information. I tracked down several of those articles and they all said the same old incorrect things about CP. This is one reason why the topic is banned. There is too much just plain wrong information about Pennington and Keating and CP out there to have a fair discussion. I say go to the source before criticizing it.

OK, resting again now…

Alan
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In the one article Fr. John D. Dreher states:
“My hypothesis is that it is Satan’s strategy, in all these things, to strip away the physiological and psychological forces that, in our fallen state, are a fail-safe protection for the human spirit. (This is a possible interpretation of Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-10 about the lawless one and the force that restrains him.) Thus, he can hope to capture the spirit of man worldwide and establish a kingdom of darkness.”

That makes no sense. Physiological and psychological forces in our fallen state are not a fail-safe protection for the human spirit, rather it is through physiological and psychological forces that we encounter our pathology. Rather than protect the human spirit they bind it.

St John of the Cross in Ascent

Book 3 Chapter 6, #2
“In the second place, it is freed from many suggestions, temptations and motions of the devil, which he infuses into the soul by means of thoughts and ideas, causing it to fall into many impurities and sins, as David says in these words: ‘They have thought and spoken wickedness.’ And thus, when these thoughts have been completely removed, the devil has naught wherewith to assault the soul by natural means.”
basilica.org/pages/ebooks/St.%20John%20of%20the%20Cross-Ascent%20of%20Mount%20Carmel.pdf
 
Michael Mayo

Fr. John D. Dreher’s article “The Dangers of Centering Prayer,” borders being fraudulent.

What he claims took place at St. Joseph’s Abbey and what Fr Keating and Basil Pennington teacht about CP, and what happens to a soul who does CP, are false.
e
Despite being only an hour away from St. Joseph’s Abbey, Fr. John D. Dreher never went there to find the facts about CP before writing his article.

I spoke with the monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey about Fr. John D. Dreher’s article, and they merely roll their eyes and shake their head. They’re too humble and charitable to actually say anything about his article.

jim
 
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