Contemplative Outreach UK - About Abbot Thomas Keating

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Biography of Abbot Thomas Keating

Father Thomas Keating was born in New York USA in 1923 and entered the Cistercian Order in Valley Falls, Rhode Island, USA in 1944. Fourteen years later he was appointed Superior of St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado, USA and in 1961 was elected Abbot of St. Joseph's Abbey, a large Cistercian monastery in Spencer, Massachusetts, USA . After two decades, he retired as Abbot and returned to Snowmass in 1981.

It was at Snowmass that Thomas Keating established a programme of ten day retreats in the practice of Centering Prayer. These Intensive retreats are now held world wide. Thomas Keating is one of the founders of the Centering Prayer movement and of Contemplative Outreach , now an International Organisation which teaches Centering Prayer and provides a support network for those on the spiritual journey.

He is also a former chairperson of the Monastic Inter-religious Dialogue which sponsors exchanges between monks and nuns of the world religions; a member of the International Committee for Peace Council, which fosters dialogue and co-operation among the world religions; and a member of the Snowmass Inter-religious Conference, a group of teachers from the world religions who meet yearly to share their experiences of the spiritual journey in their respective traditions.