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Reclaiming the Mystical Heart of Christianity
How Centering Prayer Can Deepen Your Experience of God
Contemplative Silent Retreat
November 8-14, 2019 or November 8-10, 2019
Cynthia Bourgeault
This retreat provides a sacred opportunity for a large Community of Contemplatives to gather as a healing presence to the world and to one another. Individually you’ll deepen your Centering Prayer practice with Cynthia Bourgeault, one of the great contemplative guides of our time. The retreat will unpack some of the key ideas in her highly acclaimed book The Heart of Centering Prayer: Nondual Christianity in Theory and Practice. Emphasis will be placed on the notion of “nondual personhood,” as well as the method and foundations of the Centering Prayer practice. Participants will see that Centering Prayer is not simply a Christianized form of other meditation methods, rather a method that has its own specific mechanism to transform consciousness from a narrow to broader perspectives of personhood.
This retreat will be held in silence. Each day will include wisdom teaching with Cynthia, movement practice, Contemplative Eucharist, chanting, and multiple Centering Prayer periods. The retreat is open to practitioners on all spiritual pathways, the basis for our conceptual exploration and practical work will lie in centering prayer and the christian theological perspective which underlies it. All levels are welcome, though an established centering prayer or meditation practice is helpful. For those who cannot attend the full week, we welcome participants to join us for the weekend of November 8-10.
As part of the Christian Contemplative Experience, Holy Family Retreat Center is providing workshops and retreats to learn more about Centering Prayer and develop a practice in advance of this retreat. It is highly recommended that all attendees new to Centering Prayer attend a Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop prior to this retreat; the more you bring, the more you receive. Please visit to learn more: https://www.holyfamilyretreat.org/cce.
The following teachers will be assisting and supporting Cynthia in her leadership of the retreat:
Rev. Matthew Wright
Rev. Bill Redfield
Fr. Michael Holleran
Fr. Bill Sheehan
Allen Bourque
Miranda Chapman
Deborah Welsh
This retreat is co-sponsored with Copper Beech Institute.
Pricing:
6 Night Option
Private Room, Private Bath: $1,150
Private Room, Hall Bath: $1,050
Shared Room, Hall Bath: $950
Commuter: $750
Weekend Option
Private Room, Hall Bath: $375
Shared Room, Hall Bath: $325
Commuter: $275
Presenter Profile
Cynthia Bourgeault
Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault, Ph.D., is an Episcopal priest, writer, and retreat leader, widely acclaimed as one of the leading contemporary teachers of Christian nonduality. She is the author of ten books, including The Heart of Centering Prayer: Christian Nonduality in Theory and Practice, which has been hailed by Fr. Thomas Keating as “a major contribution to the Centering Prayer movement and to interspiritual dialogue.” In addition to overseeing a growing network of international wisdom schools, she also serves as a core faculty member for the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM, together with Fr. Richard Rohr and James Finley.
Additional contemplative leaders assisting and supporting Cynthia in her leadership of the retreat:
Rev. Matthew Wright
Rev. Matthew Wright, M.Div is an Episcopal priest, writer, and retreat leader working to renew the Christian Wisdom tradition. He serves as priest-in-charge at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Woodstock, NY and is a teacher for Northeast Wisdom and The Contemplative Society, a non-profit rooted in the teaching lineage of Cynthia Bourgeault. Matthew lives with his wife, Yanick, alongside the brothers of Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY.
Rev. Bill Redfield
Rev. William Redfield retired as rector of Trinity Church, Fayetteville, NY, three years ago after nearly 20 years. Besides being an Episcopal priest for over 40 years, he is also a licensed clinical social worker and has worked in private practice in central New York and Maine. He has had a lifelong interest in the intersection of spirituality and the inner life. He is the creative force behind the birth of Wisdom House, Fayetteville, NY. Bill is a student of and a collaborator with Cynthia Bourgeault.
Fr. Michael Holleran
Fr. Michael Holleran was a Carthusian monk for 22 years, and is currently a priest of the Archdiocese of New York stationed at Notre Dame church in the Morningside Heights area of Manhattan, NYC. He also received Dharma transmission as a zensei in the Zen tradition from Fr. Robert E. Kennedy, SJ, Roshi, and runs his Dragon's Eye Zendo at St. Francis of Assisi church in midtown (Manhattan). Passing on the contemplative tradition in its many manifestations is for him a great passion and joy. For more information, visit www.michaelkholleran.org.
Fr. Bill Sheehan
Fr. Bill Sheehan, OMI, is an experienced retreat director who has led many Centering Prayer workshops and retreats, including 11th Step retreats. Since 1983, he has been involved with Contemplative Outreach, founded by Fr. Thomas Keating, OCSO, practicing centering prayer and guiding others in this way of prayer for more than 25 years. He is a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate order and lives in an Oblate House of Prayer in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Allen Bourque
Allen Bourque is a Christian Contemplative, and Centering Prayer practitioner and has been a student of Tai Chi and related Daoist internal arts for over 20 year. His primary Daoist teachers are Don Ethan Miller and Bruce Frantzis. He weaves together the strong body and awareness-based practices of Daoism with the profound heart-centered practices of Christianity. He leads Contemplative Movement programs throughout the Northeast and is an advanced student of Cynthia Bourgeault. He is a graduate of the Shalem Program for Leading Contemplative Prayer Groups and Retreats, a member of the faculty of the Life Together Community of Brookline, and a member of the Board of Contemplative Outreach Boston.
Miranda Chapman
Miranda Chapman is a compassionate soul with a heart for helping others find peace in their lives. The Institute’s founding program director, Miranda has been teaching yoga, meditation, and transformative workshops and retreats for nearly a decade. She studied meditation, yoga and Ayurveda in India and Canada, and has taken her practice all over the world. She is also an avid community builder and social and environmental activist.
Deborah Welsh
Deborah is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist, Board Certified Dance/Movement Therapist, a licensed Mental Health Counselor, and Advanced Teacher of yoga nidra/iRest ©. Currently, her professional focus is on Sacred Dance and contemplative practices of non-dual, integrative spirituality, particularly within the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism. Deborah lead workshops and has developed a program entitled “Wisdom of the Body,” primarily within the Wisdom Schools and Retreats of Wisdoms Work (www.wisdomswork.com). Deborah founded The Sacred Dance Collective of Central New York, a group of dancers exploring the power of dance as a medium of prayer, contemplation, and social action.