Dear friends,
You will be aware that
Bernadette Flanagan has been the font of all knowledge when it comes to news and events all over the world, which have some connection with the pursuit of Spiritual Wisdom!
Bernadette has handed over the compiling of the newsletter to
Helen O
’
Keeffe and Suzanne
Kelly. Our role is mainly in an editorial capacity - we are indebted to Bernadette for all her knowledge and we hope to ease the amount of work that lands on her doorstep!
Suzanne Kelly MA and Helen
O
’
Keeffe MSc are working in
All Hallows this year in a part time capacity doing research and development on behalf of
New Monasticisms Ireland.
We have been involved with the
Committee for the past seven years and hope this year to further assist in the development of aspects of the new monasticisms movement.
***For Your Diary***
Saturday 1st March 2014 with Rev Grace Clunie
Centre for Celtic Spirituality Armagh http://celtic-spirituality.net
More information to follow soon
‘THE POTENTIAL OF THE CISTERCIAN
WAY IN THE SECULAR WORLD’ with
Dr. Bernadette Flanagan PBVM,
Sr. Marie Fahy, Abbess of St. Mary’s, Abbey,
Glencairn, County Waterford and
Dom Peter Garvey O.S.C.O., Mount St. Joseph
Abbey, Roscrea, County Tipperary, on Saturday, January 11th, 2014 at 10.00 a.m. in Integritas, Ennisnag, Stoneyford, Co. Kilkenny. www. Integritas.ie
(Suggested contribution of €50.00 for the day).
This day seminar will explore the particular relevance of
Cistercian spirituality to the daily life and challenges in an increasingly secular world. Dr. Bernadette Flanagan,
Director of Research at All Hallows College, Dublin, will also provide insights into the emerging phenomenon of
‘new monasticism’ or what has also been termed
‘monasticism without walls’, reflecting the increasing desire by people who toil with the struggles of daily life to find an anchoring in the peace of the Lord, which is brought into clear focus by different aspects of monastic life. Please book a place for this day as lunch will be provided.

http://www.ncronline.org/news
/spirituality/interspiritualityconfluence-spiritual-truthstopics-international-conference
The Northwest conference
"may be more important than we realize, and I suspect that it will go far beyond our expectations," Thomas Keating said in the event press release.
"All who seek to participate in the experience of Ultimate
Mystery -- through the practice of religion, love of nature, science, art, dedicated service of others, deep friendship -- are united in the same fundamental search," he added.
"Religion divided is spirituality betrayed," Will Keepin, one of the main organisers, said.
"Religion united is spirituality exalted.”
An endorsement of the gathering by international human rights advocate
Anglican Archbishop Desmond
Tutu was posted on YouTube.
Fr. Thomas Keating

Comments from attendees Helen O’Keeffe & Suzanne Kelly:
“My overall feeling attending the Dawn of Interspirituality
Conference was one of immense gratitude. It was inspiring, challenging and deeply moving. It was a privilege to attend the
Cascadian Centre founded by Fr. William Tracey and Rabbi
Raphael Levine - a Centre which enables the movement of spiritualites engaging in communion with each other and moving hand in hand towards that which unites rather than that which divides.” Helen
Conference Speaker
Rev. Matthew Wright
“It was an absolute honour and privilege to be able to attend this incredible conference on Interspirituality.
Meeting so many heart-centered speakers and attendees was a deeply enriching and inspiring experience.” Suzanne
The following is a report from Leslie Gabriel Mezei
The Dawn of Spirituality conference brought some 200 of us together from many traditions for a groundbreaking event exploring the idea and practice of interspirituality. We gathered at
Cascadian Center, near Seattle, Washington.
The event was rich with opportunities, largely because of the remarkable list of presenters during the five days we spent together. We began with videotaped blessings from Archbishop
Desmond Tutu.
Before the Conference, there was a reunion of attendees from 30 years of the Snowmass Interreligious Conference, which recently became the Snowmass Interspiritual Dialogue.
Father Thomas Keating, its founder, addressed us in real time over the airwaves, and we sang a Kyrie Eleison chant for him in three-part harmony. The Snowmass eight points of agreement about spirituality helped set the context for this conference.
The talks in the plenary sessions were kept to 20 minutes, leaving more time for small group interaction, musical interludes,
Conference Speaker
Diane Berke chanting, worship, celebrations, silent contemplation, and walking in nature. A few of the presentations stood out to me. Reverend Matthew Wright’s topic was “Multiple Religious
Belonging and the Evolving Interspiritual Landscape.” At the age of 28 he has been ordained as an Episcopalian priest, initiated as a Sufi Dervish of Rumi’s Mevlevi Order, and an initiate in the Ramakrishna Order of Vedanta, founded by Swami Vivekananda.
Adam Bucko and Rory McEntee talked about the “New Monasticism and the Interspiritual
Revolution.”
Imam Jamal Rahman’s topic was “Awakening to Interspirituality Through Sacred
Humour.” He told us many Mulla Nasruddin teaching jokes. He is part of the Interfaith
Amigos trio, which includes Rabbi Ted Falcon, another presenter.
Rabbi Rami Shapiro urged us to be Holy Rascals, “with a passion for spiritual truth and awakening, use humour to shatter the systems that bind us.”

His Perennial Wisdom for the Spiritually Independent is a valuable sourcebook of “sacred teachings annotated and explained.” Chief Phil Lane, a hereditary Chief and
Elder and an internationally recognized indigenous leader in human and community development, also participated.
A young adult panel addressed “What Spirituality Looks Like to the New Generation” and offered a demonstration of the Snowmass Interspiritual Dialogue (SISD) Spiritual Inquiry
Method, which we then all got to experience.
A large group of people gathered several times during the conference, under the leadership of Ed Bastian and Diane Berke, to begin planning an Interspiritual Association.
Its purpose: “to link up different organizations and individuals that are passionate about this.” I asked Kurt Johnson, co-author of The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013), about the difference between the interfaith movement and interspirituality: “Interfaith is really a horizontal dialogue across fixed positions in the interest of understanding and tolerance and dialogue. Interspirituality is going into this deep space in the heart and consciousness that underpins everything as one thing. Becomes self-evident as all beings joined at the root.”
This was a rich and resonant blend of experiences for me and those to whom I spoke. The last word goes to Will Keepin who, with Cynthia Brix, organized the event: “It seems that there is a deep hunger, a spiritual thirst in people, both across the religions as well as those who are not formally part of any religion, for a coming together of the religious and wisdom traditions of the world.”
“I am really happy that we designed the conference to make it a vehicle to support what wants to emerge, without us specifying what it is. We wanted to allow the energy and enthusiasm to come from the bottom up. We made plenty of time for experiential work, for small groups self-organizing around themes of shared interest through Open Space, so that what is alive in the community would have a chance to be honoured and supported and manifest. I feel that that is what took place.”

Log on to www.newmonasticismsireland.org
to read more and to view video presentation with
Professor Mirabai Starr and Dr Kurt Johnson

The Emmaus Centre
Ennis Lane
Lissenhall
Swords
Co. Dublin

Details of Event in Emmaus Centre
Dates:
Time:
Price:
4/7/2014 6/7/2014
5.30pm Friday 4.00pm Sunday
€175 Residential or €110 Non-residential
(plus € 100 payable to New Monasticisms Ireland)
A Weekend Retreat with Cynthia Bourgeault entitled
“In the Wake of St Brendan”.
Cynthia, is the principal Teacher and Advisor to the Contemplative Society, an ecumenical, not-for-profit association that encourages a deepening of contemplative prayer based in the Christian tradition. She is a retreat and conference leader, teacher of prayer, writer on the spiritual life, and Episcopal priest. Cynthia is passionately committed to the recovery of the Christian contemplative path and has worked closely with Fr. Thomas Keating as a teacher of Centering Prayer, Fr. Bruno
Barnhart, and other Christian contemplative masters, as well as in Sufism and the
Christian inner traditions. She is the author of Mystical Hope, The Wisdom Way of
Knowing, and Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening.
PLEASE NOTE! Payment is in 2 parts:
1 All participants must FIRSTLY register with New Monasticisms Ireland
(sophiasociety@gmail.com) and forward payment of € 100 to
Dr Bernadette Flanagan, New Monasticisms Ireland, All Hallows College,
Drumcondra, Dublin 9. (cheques payable to New Monasticisms Ireland).
As New Monasticisms Ireland is a small, volunteer-led charity it does not have credit card / bank transfer facilities. On receipt of registration application, (name, address, e-mail, phone no.) and payment, a unique registration code will be issued to each participant.
2 All participants must THEN register separately with the Emmaus Centre , using their unique registration code to book either a residential or non-residential package ( € 175 or € 110 respectively).
Payment for this package must be made separately to the Emmaus Centre, which is the venue for Cynthia
’s retreat. Rates include all meals from Supper on Friday to
Lunch on Sunday as well as tea/coffee breaks am and pm. Residential rates include over-night accommodation in a single en-suite bedroom for Friday and
Saturday nights as well as breakfast on both mornings. All reservations must be prepaid in advance as places are limited.
Email: reservations@emmauscentre.ie

09/21/2013, 2:21 pm
Jerrilyn Zavada, jzavada@mywebtimes.com, 815-673-637
Brother Nathaniel Grossmann, OSB, oblate director at St. Bede Abbey in Peru, talks with several of the oblates at the September meeting. About 100 people are professed oblates at the abbey, with an average of 20 attending monthly meetings.
Monastic spirituality isn't just for monks anymore.
Just ask one of the Benedictine oblates who meet the second Sunday of each month at St. Bede
Abbey in Peru. During the meetings, the members pray together, practice lectio divina — or sacred reading of Scripture or spiritual texts — and discuss some aspect of monastic spirituality.
After the first year of attending meetings, a candidate makes a public oblation, or offering of oneself, to live the Rule of St. Benedict, the guiding principle behind the St. Bede community, as far as their lives allow it. Oblates reprofess their vows annually and remain committed to one monastery, although they may attend oblate meetings at other monasteries. There are no other requirements made of them.
The interdenominational group boasts a membership of about 100 from across Central Illinois and the Chicago suburbs, with an average of 20 attending the meetings each month. The most recent numbers from the Vatican's website for International Benedictine Oblates from 2008 indicated there were 25,481 oblates in 50 countries, with 42 percent of those in the U.S., and the numbers are growing.
Abbot Philip Davey believes despite the fast pace of today's world, there is a longing deep in every human being to seek out the divine.
"I think ultimately it's what St. Augustine said. 'O Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you,' " Davey told The Times. "I think it's probably simply the sense people have and the expectation what they think is going to provide what they need doesn't do it. I think it's what spawns interest in the iPad 5 and the latest this and the latest that."
Brother Nathaniel Grossmann is beginning his third year as oblate director at the Abbey and said the Rule is a summary of the gospel.

"It's a livable expression of the gospel. It's a guide to living according to the gospel — the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Christ," Grossmann said. "Laypeople have found a great deal of spiritual wisdom in living the gospel in their own vocation as married people, single people, stay-at-home moms or dads. And so they attach themselves to a monastery of men or women. It's a mutual give and take. They receive from us. We receive from them."
Ken Krogulski, of La Salle, attended St. Bede Academy and has been active in the oblate program for more than 20 years. Though he acknowledges some of the language from The Rule of St.
Benedict, written 1,500 years ago, is outdated, he still finds meaning in it for the 21st century.
"Laypeople find it has definite benefits in living a secular life," Krogulski said. "That's why we call ourselves 'monks outside the walls.' It's living the rule. It makes a lot of sense to me. It's a good way to live your life. It's been tried and true for quite a few centuries."
One of the key aspects of oblate meetings is lectio divina, an ancient form of prayer that can be done individually or in a group. Members read and meditate on a passage from scripture several times to determine how God is trying to speak to them that day through that particular text.
"(Sacred) reading leads into prayer," Grossmann said. "One is not reading to know about God, but to know God, to have the actual experience of God. It leads quite naturally into prayer."
Grossmann said lectio divina and communal prayer, both significant elements in the monks' daily lives, enhance each other.
"If you don't do lectio — when you go to (the Divine) Office you're not bringing much to it," he said. "By the same token, if you go to Office and you don't pay attention and be mindful of what you're doing, you're not bringing much to your private prayer. It's a constant interchange."
Grossmann said monastic spirituality offers oblates something solid and rooted in an age of constant change and unreliability.
"I think (the oblate program) enhances my spirituality," said Roseanne Webb, of Peru and formerly of Streator. "I realize that faith is involved more in a sense of community." http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/print_display.php?id=482117

Publication Date: September 5, 2012
Like an underground river, the monastic tradition keeps on resurging in a host of unexpected times and places. Secular Monasticism, A Journey describes one of its most recent incarnations. The founders and members of the
Lindisfarne Community share with us their bold attempt to be a secular monastic religious order open to the exigencies of the contemporary world. Age-old wisdom once again reveals its perennial relevance in helping us learn how to be followers of
Christ in God ’s today.
Brother John, Taiz
é
In the first five pages, I thought of ten people I know who should read this book: young people, old people, all people tired of taken-for-granted spirituality.
Devour this book. Let it help you dream up a way of joining or creating a microcommunity of prayer and action that frees you to experiment in following the ways of
Christ. That's what these folks have done. This story helps us imagine ourselves out of the boxes and buildings Christianity has become.
The Rev. Dr. Dori Baker, Scholar-in-Residence, The Fund for Theological Education
Lindisfarne Community has graciously accepted God ’s call to dance with the radical
(and sometimes wearying) changes of our time. Like the Celts, they find meaning in their ongoing spiritual evolution through poetry and story, through a willingness to navigate the waters of the soul while remaining fiercely loyal to the good earth that bore us and nurtures us. Like the Celts, this family of secular monastics hungers more for mystical union with the Divine Mystery than for any trappings of earthly renown or success.

AMAZON CUSTOMER REVIEWS
By Janet Nail Format: Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found SECULAR MONASTICISM a bit frustrating. The authors would bring up a point and skim over it, but they didn't explore it in the depth I wanted. For an introduction to the concept of monasticism in daily life, it is excellent, but for one who has been involved in a similar journey, it lacked depth. Still, it was an interesting book, and I would recommend it to the beginning seeker.
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing challenging book. April 11, 2013
By C. Haggerstone
Purchase
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified
The thing that makes it different and in many ways exciting is its depth and width of both understanding and experience including its diversity of many different concepts of Faith.
I am beginning to believe that the formation of Lindisfarne Community is a brave step forward; even an attempt to find Christian expression which relates to peoples experience of the world in which we now live.
What your community members mainly describe are there personal attempts to find belief and acceptance within a group or community environment. I am using community here as just a collective noun. However the width and breadth of their experience seems unique.
5.0 out of 5 stars A nice collection! October 24, 2012
By Jack Gillespie Format: Paperback
Okay, full disclosure. Not only am I a priest in the Lindisfarne Community, I'm also a contributing author to this book. With that stated, however, and my story aside, I rather enjoyed the journey of +Jane and +Andy, as well as those of the other contributors. It's a fascinating account of how God worked through various circumstances and brought people together with a shared desire "to love, serve, forgive."

While many people today have an issue (or several issues) with "the church," there seems to be a longing, deep within humanity, for reconciliation and forgiveness and love and acceptance. For many, there's a profound knowing that there is something More. For a lot of those people, places like the Lindisfarne
Community offer another way of following Jesus that pushes back against those in authority, not just in politics and society, but also in the church. In these chapters, we hear from people who, on different levels, have intentionally moved from the constraints of the Christian religion to a more freeing view of following Jesus as a
Way of living and being. This view resonates with the monastics and mystics of the ancient past. That doesn't mean the contributors to this book don't love the church
- far from it. It's to say that their love for the church motivates them to challenge it.
Listening to these stories brings together many voices into one brilliant message - following Jesus is not just about going (and serving) at church. It's about "being
Christ to those we meet; seeking Christ within them." It's recognizing God's message of reconciliation is for all of creation. It's seeing God move in the lives of other people and cultures and faith traditions. It ’ s acknowledging that "all truth is
God's truth."
I highly recommend this book for those people who are yearning for a different way of following Jesus. For those people who love their church but have a hard time with some of it's stances. May people who long and secretly desire a different way of living, of being find companions, friends, sisters and brothers, in the pages of this book.

st

http://www.livingspirituality.org
We live in times of great change affecting all our institutions , including religious ones, and new forms of spirituality are now being birthed around the world . Our goal is to encourage mutual support as people explore their own spiritual journeying broadly rooted within the Christian tradition. LivingSpirituality aims to be a resource through which people can find material, groups and people to help deepen and anchor their explorations through all stages of their journey.
We have a free quarterly email newsletter . It has news about LivingSpirituality , book reviews, accounts of interesting events, and suggestions for useful websites and other resources. We also send a list of forthcoming events taking place in the UK and Ireland.
Sign up here .
We have a growing number of regional contacts around the UK and Ireland .
Their role is to welcome new LS subscribers in their region. In addition they may help to arrange informal members meetings; send out regional emails; and develop regional activities.

Find out more here .
We want this website to develop into a useful resource for people on their spiritual journey . We provide information about different forms of spiritual practice, including meditation and centering prayer, as well as links to other organisations, articles and book reviews.
Types of New (or Secular) Monasticism
CYBER Communities and FACEBOOK communities
1 Interfaith Franciscans www.interfaithfranciscans.com/Monastic-Formation.html
An International online Lay Monastic Celtic Franciscan Community embracing a new way of life as a modern day lay monastic from their Monastery without Walls
2 Spiritus Abbey – a monastery without walls (FACEBOOK) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spiritus-Abbey-A-Monastery-Without-
Walls/201324487018
3 The Art Monastery http://artmonastery.org/
The Art Monastery Project is an American 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to cultivating personal awakening and cultural transformation through art, community, and contemplation.

The brainchild of American artists Betsy McCall and Christopher F ülling and founded in 2007, the Project applies the monastic principles of discipline, contemplation, and sustainable living to creativity and the art-making process. The pilot site and first major program of the Project is Art Monastery Italia. AM Italia hosts a small residential long-term community as well as short-term visiting artists and mid-range Artmonks-in-Residence. Together, these international artists from various disciplines collaborate under the unique circumstances of a temporary monastic community to work together and share different methodologies of artmaking. Additionally, the Art Monastery Project supports US-based programs, such as concerts and an annual Artmonk Retreat (a week-long silent meditation retreat exploring the intersection between contemplation and creativity), and plans to found Art Monastery San Francisco in the future. In all of its programs, the Art
Monastery Project is committed to investigating the idea of
“social sculpture” and develops a wide range of performance-based and visual art works in a mode that focuses as much on the process of creation as on the final products.
The Art Monastery Project is a radical experiment in contemporary social sculpture inspired by tradition: to apply the disciplined, contemplative, and sustainable monastic way of living to the creative process.
4 http://sotrusozer.org/
What is Sotrusozer Monastery?
“At the moment, it is a daydream. It is a concept for a type of intentional community where men or women come together to live in fellowship. It would be a sort of secular monastery were we would exchange the hypercompetitive experience of life in society for a cooperative existence in a rural community.
What is an intentional community?
In such communities we will work together to grow our own food, generate our own power, and build our own structures. We will exchange the dehumanizing dependence on society that characterizes life today for the dignity and satisfaction of providing for ourselves.
I call these communities monasteries because the word conveys the nature of the experience I would hope to have there, not because there would be any religious affiliation required for membership or because of any shared religious practice.

Monastery residents will spend a portion of their time in shared work, but be free to spend the majority of their time studying, contemplating, pursuing hobbies, or worshiping according to their own desires. I hope this concept will appeal to people from a broad range of backgrounds who possess a broad range of interests. I hope these monasteries will welcome people of any religion or no religion at all.
”
Integritas is the name of a domestic centre of Christian spirituality situated at
Ennisnag, Stoneyford, County Kilkenny, Ireland. A married couple, Linda
Rainsberry and Patrick Treacy, live here with their four children. This centre has emerged from the belief that a new appreciation of the beauty, truth and goodness of Christian spirituality is the greatest need of our time.
Integritas is founded upon the conviction that the restoration of the centrality of
Jesus Christ is the greatest need of our time and that when He becomes central, every relationship in our lives develops a new order or integrity around Him.
Unfortunately, we have lost the beauty in Christian faith and are no longer attracted to Him. We have lost the particularity of Jesus Christ, in the story of the redemptive love given for each one of us, without cause and through grace, that is uniquely related to Jesus Christ. We have lost the truth of our polarity from God, of our need for His redemptive love and finally, as a society, we have lost our transcendent anchoring in Him, as the protection of human dignity has been supplanted by the supremacy of individual choice and liberty

OUR LADY
’S HOSPICE & CARE SERVICE, HAROLDS CROSS DUBLIN
Personal and/or professional spiritual development
This programme has an international reputation in creative education.
It offers a unique opportunity for personal and professional spiritual development.
Each unit begins with an intensive two-day workshop supported thereafter by monthly small-group study meetings.
Programme manuals and study materials are provided.
Unit One Understanding Spiritual
Pain 15, 16 November 2013
Unit Two Diagnosing Spiritual Pain 27, 28 June 2014
Unit Three Healing Spiritual Pain 21, 22 November 2014
Unit Four Transforming Spiritual Pain 26, 27 June 2015

Each programme unit is an interactive and inspirational learning experience appropriate both for personal and professional growth. It is especially relevant for health care staff and caregivers, whether professional or otherwise. All programmes are a creative blend of best practices, instruction, personal reflection, hands-on experience, multimedia presentation and creative rituals from the world
’s great wisdom traditions.
This programme will enable participants to
•
Explore the nature and inter-relationship of human health and suffering including the physical, emotional and psycho-spiritual dimensions.
• Explore the universal aspects of meaning, forgiveness, hope and core relationships.
• Live with enhanced purpose and meaning through all of the stages and transitions of living.
• Connect or reconnect the ‘soul and role’ in their lives.
Registrations are still being accepted for this programme.
Further information click below. http://www.olh.ie/11-education-andresearch-centre/1393-sacred-art-of-living-dying.html
See also - https://www.sacredartofliving.org

J o u r n e y i n g

http://www.monos.org.uk
See Gerry Fagan ’s report about Summer Event in Monos at http://www.newmonasticismsireland.org/Current_Reports.html

Reading
(Veritas, Dublin, 2003 - 169 pages).
th
The Lantern Centre, 17 Synge Street, Dublin 8 (in the room called Ruah, which is our usual room in the front of the house at the basement - enter from the street by the

basement or via the car park - NOT the church car park - a few doors down, and there are doors to the left ... ask the way if necessary when you get into the car park - if parking, do please park at the BACK and, please, NOT in the area near the doors).
New Monasticisms Ireland’s email address is sophiasociety@gmail.com
(Bernadette Flanagan).
The Lantern Centre’s website is www.lanterncentre.org
If you are new to this book club, please note that notice of our meeting is usually on our website:- http://www.newmonasticismsireland.org
@