March 3, 2006

Abbot Thomas Keating, OCSO, to Present Second Annual Interlandi Lecture and Retreat

Abbot Thomas Keating, OCSO, one of the founders of the Centering Prayer Movement and Contemplative Outreach, will be at Brown University to present the Second Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture on Contemplative Studies, “Prayer in Secret,” on Monday, March 13, at 8:00 p.m., in 120 List Art Building, 64 College Street. In addition, Keating will lead a retreat workshop, “The Contemplative Dimensions of the Gospels,” the day before on Sunday, March 12, from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., in the Crystal Room, Alumnae Hall, Pembroke Campus, 194 Meeting Street. The Contemplative Minds: The Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture Fund is funding the series.

Please Note: The Interlandi lecture is free and open to the public. The retreat requires pre-registration online at Brown's Contemplative Studies Initiative website at www.brown.edu/Faculty/Contemplative_Studies_Initiative. The $10 registration fee can be paid upon arrival at the retreat. Payment should be made in cash or by check (“Brown University ”). Because of space limitations, members of the Brown/RISD communities will be given priority for registration.

Abbot Keating of the Cistercian Order has long been recognized as the inspirational force behind this method of prayer, which has its roots in contemplative prayer, but requires the quieting of all faculties to become open and receptive to God's presence. Keating developed this program while superior of St. Benedict's Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado, during the 1950s, initiating ten-day retreats that practiced centering prayer. Keating was later elected abbot of St. Joseph 's Abbey, a large Cistercian monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts, better known as the “Trappist Monastery.”

Keating is the founder of Contemplative Outreach, an international organization that teaches and supports the centering prayer method. He is also a former chairperson of the Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue, a member of the International Committee for Peace, and a member of the Snowmass Inter-religious Conference. Keating has authored a number of best-selling books on spirituality, including Open Mind, Open Heart, Invitation to Love, Mystery of Christ, and Intimacy with God.

The Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture Fund honors this Brown undergraduate, who died at the age of 19½ in 2003. Interlandi had enormous passion for Buddhism, feminist theory, and eastern philosophy, which she was studying at the time of her death. Her family and friends established this fund to provide an annual lectureship, which would center on moral, ethical, spiritual, and/or world religions.

The lecture and retreat have been organized by Brown University's Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life and the Contemplative Studies Initiative (CSI).

To pre-registrar for the retreat online, please visit www.brown.edu/Faculty/Contemplative_Studies_Initiative. For more information about the lecture, visit the Office of the Chaplains and Religious Life website or call 401.863.2344. All venues are handicap accessible.