Thomas Keating

[Seamus_Sully]

Is Fr. Thomas Keating of Snowmass, CO a safe author?

THANKS!!!

 

[Randy_Carson]

Is Fr. Thomas Keating of Snowmass, CO a safe author?

THANKS!!!

I was a candidate at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA when Thomas Keating was abbot there. This was in the late 70’s and early 80’s. After Dom Thomas left to become superior at the daughterhouse in Snowmass, St. Joseph’s began returning to its traditional, conservative Trappist roots.

IMO, St. Joseph’s went through a very liberal phase experimenting with Eastern sprituality and prayer following in the footsteps of Thomas Merton. Keating, along with Basil Pennington and others, wrote extensively on Centering Prayer. Not all of the brothers agreed with this direction, of course. Later in life, I met Fr. Francis Martin, a brilliant man who had been a monk at St. Joseph’s for a number of years before leaving to become a diocesan priest, and his assessment of centering prayer was not positive.

I’m suspicious of centering prayer and the legacy of Keating and Pennington at this point. I’m willing to be corrected if I am wrong, but I think given the vast array of stronger material available to you for reading, you can do much better by focusing on authors with the word “Saint” in front of their names.

 

[puzzleannie]

there is an extensive critique of centering prayer on several old threads on the spirituality forum, which deal with fr. Keating and his works.

 

[Seamus_Sully]

Thanks!

How do I go about finding posts or thread about Thomas Keating?

Just use the search?