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Trappist priest, Thomas Keating, who was a global leader in both Christian contemplative prayer and interreligious dialogue, has died. He was 95.
He died at St Joseph’s Abbey, Massachusetts, where he had been abbot from 1961 to 1981.
In the early 1980s Keating began his role as one of the chief architects of the contemporary practice of meditative prayer, which allows one to rest in the presence of God.
This form of silent prayer is now known as centering prayer.
During the early 1980s, the growing popularity of centering prayer led to Keating directing retreats and workshops worldwide. That networking, in turn, sparked widening interest in organisational and educational structuring.
Out of that grew Contemplative Outreach Ltd, which was officially incorporated in 1986. Keating was its first president.
Keating was internationally acclaimed for his extensive writing, lecturing and teaching on both meditative prayer and on interfaith discourse.
He spearheaded the formation of the Snowmass Interreligious Conferences in late 1983. These were a yearly gathering of major figures of various religious backgrounds that ran for three decades.
According to a website by Rabbi Hennoch Dov , Keating invited “deep practitioners” from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Native American and Islamic traditions to the Snowmann conferences to connect, compare notes and clarify. One result has been to distill some profound points of agreement shared by each of the participants.
In a press statement responding to Keatings’ death, Contemplative Outreach expressed the organisation’s deep sorrow at “the passing of our beloved teacher and spiritual father.”
“He modeled for us the incredible riches and humility borne of a divine relationship that is not only possible but is already the fact in every human being.
“Such was his teaching, such was his life. He now shines his light from the heights and the depths of the heart of the Trinity.”
Contemplative Outreach is planning to hold a 24-hour, worldwide prayer vigil.
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