Frequently Asked Questions

Centering Prayer is a method of silent prayer that prepares us to receive the gift of contemplative prayer.

The primary purpose of a Centering Prayer group is to help sustain the commitment to a regular practice of Centering Prayer. Members of a Centering Prayer group gather to practice Centering Prayer together…The group provides community support for the spiritual journey. Search for a local Centering Prayer group here.

Centering Prayer does not “empty the mind” or exclude other forms of prayer. It is not a “technique” that automatically creates “mysticism” or a means “to reach an altered state of consciousness”. . . Throughout the period of Centering Prayer, our intention predominates: the movement of our will to consent to God’s intention, which according to our faith, is to communicate the divine life to us.

If you are not affiliated with a local Contemplative Outreach chapter, first seek permission from your church pastor or minister to host a Centering Prayer Introductory Program (this program consists of the introductory workshop to Centering Prayer and six follow-up sessions). Then, contact anyone on the COSA Servant Leadership Team. The Servant Leadership Team will  collaborate with you to present the program.

The contemplative dimension of the Gospel is the penetration into the spiritual meaning of Scripture, leading to an experience of the living Christ and to the love of others in everyday life . . . It is living out the values and teachings of the Gospel as a natural way of following Christ, as an inner prompting inspired by the love of God, and trusting God is love.

Organized in 1984, Contemplative Outreach (CO) is a worldwide spiritual community of individuals and small faith groups committed to renewing the contemplative dimension of the Gospel in everyday life. The intent of Contemplative Outreach is to foster the process of transformation in Christ in one another through the practice of Centering Prayer.

Father Thomas Keating, a Trappist monk for 74 years, died at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts on October 25, 2018 at the age of 94 years old. Fr. Keating was the founder of Contemplative Outreach, as well as an internationally renowned theologian and an accomplished author. Fr. Keating was a core participant in and supporter of interreligious dialogue, as well as one of the founders of Centering Prayer.