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 will 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 Gregory Fruehwirth, Order of Julian of Norwich (20 March 2010)
Fr. Gregory Fruehwirth has been a brother for 19 years in The Order of Julian of Norwich, a contemplative Order of monks and nuns in the Episcopal Church, in the United States. Having been the Order's groundskeeper for many years, he currently serves as the elected Superior of the Order, and has offered retreats and presentations on prayer, the contemplative life, and Julian of Norwich in different venues across the United States and in the United Kingdom. In 2008 Paraclete Press and SPCK together published his first book, Words for Silence, a Year of Contemplative Meditations. He enjoys gardening, playing the flute, and theological and spiritual reflection.
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.
Fr Richard Rohr OFM
Fr Richard Rohr is a Franciscan of the New Mexico Province. He was the founder of the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1971, and the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1986, where he presently serves as Founding Director.
He was born in 1943 in Kansas. He entered the Franciscans in 1961 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He received his Master's Degree in Theology from Dayton that same year. He now lives in a hermitage behind his Franciscan community in Albuquerque, and divides his time between local work, and preaching and teaching on all continents. He considers the proclamation of the Gospel to be his primary call, and uses many different platforms to communicate that message. Scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation, community building, peace and justice issues, male spirituality, the enneagram, and eco-spirituality would all be themes that he addresses in service of the Gospel.
He is probably best known for his numerous audio and video tapes, and through the Center's publication, Radical Grace. He is a regular contributing editor/writer for Sojourners magazine and recently published a 7-part Lenten Series for the National Catholic Reporter.
A recording of his talk, What the Silnce Reveals: the peace and struggle of contemplative prayer, given in London on 9 December 2007, is available here.
Check the Mustard Seed Resource Center for all Fr. Richard's works.
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