Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC): Franciscan Fr. Richard Rohr founded the CAC in 1987 because he saw a deep need for the integration of both action and contemplation. The mission of the CAC is to introduce Christian contemplative wisdom and practices that support transformation and inspire loving action. “We offer teaching from Father Richard Rohr and our core faculty—James Finley, Barbara Holmes, Brian McLaren, and emeritus faculty Cynthia Bourgeault—that is rooted in the Christian contemplative tradition and points to our oneness with God and each other. Our programs and resources will help grow your consciousness, deepen your prayer practice, and strengthen your compassionate engagement with the world.” For more info on the CAC, click HERE.
The Center for Christian Spirituality (CCS) is part of the University of San Diego. Based on Christian spirituality rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition, the CCS welcomes a broad horizon for learning, understanding, dialogue and appreciation of the diversity of beliefs and cultures that enrich our community. As part of a university setting, and with the division of Mission and Ministry, the Center cherishes both faith and reason and wishes to support all who seek to shape their lives in a manner consonant with their deepest values and meaning. For more info, click HERE.
The Center for the Spiritual Imagination (CSI). CSI is a ministry of the Community of the Incarnation, which prays, lives, and serves at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York. CSI shares the gifts of the Christian contemplative tradition by forming persons and communities who can meet the social and ecological challenges of our world with generosity, courage, and commitment. Ongoing projects include: a three-year New Monasticism formation program that helps prepare participants for a life of prayer and service; Black Lives and Contemplation, which fosters a deeper understanding of the Black diasporic contemplative tradition, Meditation and Justice for Young Adults, connecting with the spiritual needs of young seekers who may not identify with any religious tradition, and Contemplation on the Streets, responding to systemic injustice and neighbors in need. For more info, click HERE.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL). This website contains the complete online text of many classic Christian works, including The Cloud of Unknowing, The Abandonment to Divine Providence, Meister Eckhart’s Sermons, Jakob Boehme’s Way to Christ, Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love, John of the Cross’s Dark Night of the Soul, Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, Henry Suso’s Little Book of Eternal Wisdom, Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul, Evelyn Underhill’s Mysticism, and many others. For more info, click HERE.
The Church of Conscious Harmony (CCH). Located in Austin, Texas, the CCH s a Christian community and church whose teachings stand on two legs: 1) The contemplative Christian tradition and 2) The Christian Fourth Way, known as the Work of Inner Christianity. The contemplative Christian tradition is primarily supported through the teaching and practice of Centering Prayer and Lectio Divina as well as study of the works of Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, Richard Rohr, Bernadette Roberts and other mystics. The Church also has an active Centering Prayer retreat ministry. The Work of Inner Christianity is primarily expressed through study of the works of Maurice Nicoll, Rodney Collin, G. I. Gurdjieff, P. D. Ouspensky and others. Classes, small groups, and the Gurdjieff Movements are ways that the Work of Inner Christianity comes alive as an active agent in the transformative process. For more info on the CCH, click HERE.
The Contemplative Society is an inclusive, non-profit association that encourages a deepening of contemplative prayer based in the Christian Wisdom tradition while also welcoming and being supportive of other meditation traditions. “We offer a consistent and balanced path for spiritual growth and transformation rooted in prayer, silence, mindful work, and in the 1500-year-old wisdom of our Benedictine contemplative heritage. The Society draws upon and promotes the work of Rev. Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault as one of its primary Wisdom teachers. We do so by sponsoring retreats, Wisdom schools, and workshops led by Cynthia and other distinguished teachers of the Christian contemplative path, and through the sales of instructional and inspiration materials, in both textual and audio format, supportive of the contemplative life.” For more info, click HERE.
Contemplative Outreach Podcast: Opening Minds, Opening Hearts. This is a podcast for both the curious meditator and the longtime practitioner of Centering Prayer. On each episode, hosts Colleen Thomas and Mark Dannensfelser reflect on the method of Centering Prayer with some friends of Contemplative Outreach who share their personal experience of encountering God through the prayer and through their work in the world. The podcast hopes to provide new perspectives on the future of contemplative prayer in our rapidly changing spiritual and technological landscape. To access the podcast, click HERE.
Closer Than Breath. This is an online contemplative hub that offers resources for contemplative practice, ongoing contemplative education, and interspirittual contemplative community. They envision “a growing community of contemplatives worldwide who actively embody the light and love of the Divine to create greater peace and harmony on earth.” Closer Than Breath offers weekly meditation groups, courses from outstanding spiritual teachers, and wisdom from Centering Prayer thought leaders through monthly workshops and summits. For more info, click HERE.
Heather Ruce is a San Diego-based Wisdom spiritual director who facilitates Wisdom practice circles, groups, retreats, and Wisdom schools. She offers teaching and guidance in various embodied Wisdom, contemplative, and mindfulness practices including Centering Prayer, Christian Meditation, sacred chanting, lectio divina, conscious work, and sacred gestures. She also hosts a daily 30-minute online “Contemplative Pause,” enabling practitioners to gather each morning for prayer and meditation. For more info, click HERE.
The Howard Thurman Collections. Through Boston University, these archives offer access to manuscripts, correspondence, and audio files by this African-American author, philosopher, educator, Christian mystic, and civil-rights leader. The most famous of Thurman’s works, Jesus and the Disinherited, deeply influenced Martin Luther King, Jr. and other leaders of the modern civil rights movement. Thurman’s other books on religion, mystical prayer, and social justice include: Meditations of the Heart, Mysticism and the Experience of Love, The Centering Moment, and The Inward Journey: Meditations on the Spiritual Quest. For more info, click HERE.
The Integral Christian Network is made up of “people from all over the globe who are seeking to be a part of the loving evolution of Christianity and the world. We believe that happens in a generative network of support and collaboration. We believe that happens through the evolution of consciousness through participatory mystical practice in ‘WeSpace’ groups and individually. We believe that happens through empowered creativity seeking emergence and new spaces of deep connection and meaning. We believe that happens through the radiant heart of love surging out to the world.” For more info, click HERE.
The International Thomas Merton Society. The mission of this Society is to “encourage exploration of Thomas Merton’s life and thought to build knowledge, cultivate community, foster contemplative awareness, encourage interfaith encounters, and inspire just living.” The Society publishes The Merton Seasonal journal and offers a “Tuesdays with Merton” webinar (with recordings later available on YouTube). Lectures about Merton and his ideas are available on theThomas Merton YouTube channel HERE. For more info on the Society, click HERE.
Meditation Chapel. This site comprises a group of virtual chapels that serves more than 150 groups of many faith traditions. These online groups meet once (or more) a week to practice Centering Prayer, Lectio Divina, Welcoming Prayer, Christian Meditation, and other forms of meditation and prayer. Most of these groups are affiliated with Contemplative Outreach or the World Community for Christian Meditation. Those interested in participating in these groups first sign up for membership in the Chapel (which is free), then they are given access to the Chapel Calendar and directions on how to join one of the online meditation rooms. For more info, click HERE.
Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation. Since 1973, Shalem Institute has fostered contemplative living and leadership by caring for the spiritual heart in prayer and by offering ways of opening into the life of the Spirit through a variety of programs and resources. Shalem is one of the most respected centers for spiritual deepening in the US and globally. “We provide resources for contemplative living, prayerful reading, invitations to silence, retreat weekends, online courses, speakers and events, and long-term programs for clergy seeking to go deeper, aspiring spiritual directors, contemplative retreat and prayer group leaders, and executives seeking to lead from the heart.” For more info, click HERE.
Spirituality and Practice. Founded by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, S&P is an multifaith and interspiritual website devoted to resources for spiritual journeys. “We envision a global circle of people vitally engaged with the wisdom and transformative practices of the world’s religious, spiritual, psychological, and cultural traditions, who are thereby equipped to live deeper and fuller lives and to serve their communities and the wider world. We aim to foster a loving world in which all people live with dignity, a sense of belonging, and a reverence for all life.” S&P offers e-courses on contemplative prayer, sacred texts, spiritual practices, an “alphabet of spiritual literacy,” film and book reviews, and more. For more info, click HERE.
Stillpoint: The Center for Christian Spirituality. Stillpoint exists to nurture pathways to wholeness by encouraging contemplative living, faithful practice, and spiritual activism. Stillpoint offers individual and collective opportunities for those who are seeking more meaningful connection with divine mystery–from foundational spiritual exploration to forming and training deeply grounded spiritual directors. Rooted in the Christian tradition, Stillpoint is an open and inclusive community that draws from many other spiritual traditions. For more info, click HERE.
Wisdom Waypoints. “We are a growing network of global Wisdom seekers supporting one another as we work with our founding teacher Cynthia Bourgeault to reclaim the Christian Wisdom path. Wisdom Waypoints offers a full menu of programs and offerings to help members connect to the greater Wisdom tradition and to one another. There are on-the ground retreats and Wisdom Schools led by Cynthia Bourgeault and by other seasoned Wisdom teachers. There are online courses, meditation circles, book circles, and chant groups to support you as you journey deeper into Wisdom. Periodic workdays and practice days (both online and on the ground) provide an opportunity to integrate the head and the heart—and the hands as well—as they both hold a tool for practical work and reach out to one another in sacred movement and prayer.” For more info on Wisdom Waypoints, click HERE.
The World Community for Christian Meditation. The WCCM is a global spiritual community united in the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition as taught by its Benedictine founders John Main and Laurence Freeman. It shares the fruits of this practice widely and inclusively, serving the unity of all and building understanding between faiths and cultures. Members of WCCM span more than a hundred countries.Its international centre is Bonnevaux – an ancient monastic site now dedicated to global peace and dialogue around the daily practice of meditation – near Poitiers in France. For more info, click HERE.