Archbishop Vincent Nichols (22 October 2009)
Vincent Nichols began as a college chaplain and parish priest in Liverpool, and held a number of educational posts; he was a special adviser to Cardinal Basil Hume, and was given temporary charge of the Westminster diocese on the latter's sudden death in 1999. He became Archbishop of Birmingham, and was appointed to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor early in 2009. He has kindly agreed to open the 3rd season of Silence in the City talks (Thursday 22 October 2009).
Metropolitan Kallistos Ware ( 24 November 2009)
Kallistos Ware holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford where from 1966 to 2001 he was Fellow of Pembroke College and Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies. He is a monk of the monastery of St John the Theologian, Patmos, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. In
1982 he became titular bishop of Diokleia and assistant bishop in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain and in 2007 he was raised to the rank of metropolitan. His publications include The Orthodox Church (2nd edn., 1993) and The Orthodox Way (2nd edn., 1995) and he is co-translator of the five-volume Philokalia.
Martin Laird (14 January 2010)
Martin Laird is a member of the Order of St Augustine and Associate Professor of Theology at Villanova University, USA. He is the author of the very popular Into the Silent Land (cover picture shown here), in which he draws on the ancient wisdom of both the Christian East and West.
Fr Kevin Culligan OCD (2 June 2010)
Kevin Culligan, OCD, a native of Chicago, was raised in Southern California and attended Seattle University. He entered the Discalced Carmelite friars in 1955 in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was ordained to the priesthood in Washington, DC, on June 8, 1963. He received his Ph.D. in psychology of religion from Boston University in 1979. He is a charter member of both the Institute of Carmelite Studies and the Carmelite Forum in the United States. His articles and reviews have appeared in The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, America, National Catholic Reporter, and Spiritual Life in the U.S., and in The Way in the U.K. In 2000, he edited Carmel and Contemplation:Transforming Human Consciousness for ICS Publications and in 2007 his "Carmelite Prayer and Buddhist Meditation" appeared in Spiritual Life. He regularly offers spiritual guidance and retreats in the Carmelite tradition for laity, clergy, and religious. Since 1989, he has, with Mary Jo Meadow and Daniel Chowning, developed through writings and intensive retreats the practice of Christian Insight Meditation, incorporating the wisdom of Buddhist vipassana practice into Christian spirituality as taught by St. John of the Cross. He lives in the community of Discalced Carmelite friars in Boston, Massachusetts. |