Thomas Berry:
Spiritual Master of the Emerging Ecozoic
*** Feb. 3 - 24, 2026 ***
@ 10:00 AM Pacific | 1:00 PM Eastern
with
Sister Kathleen Deignan
On behalf of Earth Literacies is my joy to facilitate an engagement with an enduring prophet of the Earth: Thomas Berry: Spiritual Master of the Emerging Ecozoic Age.
From the treasure trove of his challenging and lucid writings, we find the critical analysis of our planetary crisis and the visionary proposals for what may yet be possible – what must become possible – for our living Earth community.
Come toward a blessing from the inspired sage who awakens and guides "Ecozoic" Contemplatives empowered to protect and heal our precious home and be the vanguard to make a path by walking together toward a new future - for this is the critical time for all who would labor in The Great Work of gestating a new humankind - more creative and integrally alive, whole, and sane.
Join me for this rich session to discover - among other gems - facets of the new Thomas Berry Book of Hours recently completed for publication by Orbis Books. May these sessions be for you what Thomas calls "a moment of grace" in this encounter with a gentle, powerful, luminous, prophetic sage.
Bio - Kathleen Noone Deignan, CND, PhD
Kathleen Noone Deignan, CND, PhD is a sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame and Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Iona University where she taught from 1980 – 2021 and now serves as founder of the Deignan Institute for Earth and Spirit, a multi-faceted project in support of the cultivation of global citizens for the emergence of an ecological civilization.
A GreenFaith Fellow since 2008, Dr. Deignan is an alumna of Fordham University where she studied with her mentor Thomas Berry earning a Master’s Degree in the History of Christian Spirituality and a Doctorate in Historical Theology. Her publications include ChristSpirit: The Pneumatological Eschatology of Shaker Christianity, When the Trees Say Nothing: Thomas Merton’s Writings on Nature, Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, Teilhard de Chardin: A Book of Hours, and numerous published articles on integral ecological spirituality. Her new book from Orbis is Thomas Berry: A Book of Hours.
President Emerita of the International Thomas Merton Society, Sister Kathleen founded The Merton Contemplative Initiative at Iona College, and is co-convener of The Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue to honor and promote the legacy of her mentor, Thomas Berry. She sits on the board of The Berry Foundation and is a past board member of the American Teilhard Association. She also served as the “Teilhard Cultivator” for the Guild for Spiritual Guidance from January 2012 to 2016.
Kathleen’s Teilhardian studies began in the 1960s at Saint Jean Baptiste High School and more intensively in the novitiate of the Congregation of Notre Dame during her formation period from 1966 – 1969 under the mentorship of visiting Jesuits from Fairfield University, CT.
She continued reading until her graduate studies at Fordham under Teilhardian scholars Dr. Ewert Cousins and Father Thomas Berry, co-founders of the American Teilhard Association on whose board she served. She undertook her Masters program under the mentorship of Dr. Berry, continuing her studies with him for decades after. At his death in 2009 she and three other students of his founded the Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona which she still co-convenes monthly.
A faith-based entrepreneur, Sister Kathleen is also co-founder of Schola Ministries – a project in service to the contemplative and liturgical arts which has produced a dozen compact discs of her original sacred songs which are available freely on YouTube (see YouTube Kathleen Deignan Music). She is currently working to publish the prayers of John Battista Giuliani (1932-2021), founder of the Benedictine Grange, where she was liturgical composer in residence and leader of song for over 40 years.
Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Iona, Dr. Deignan is now engaged in the ministry of transformational ecological education and animation inspired by Pope Francis’ integral ecological encyclical, Laudato si’. She hosts several podcasts as part of her Anam Cara Contemplative Guidance work: “Eldering in Grace,” “Becoming Earthling,” and other programs in spirituality.
See Dr. Deignan’s publishing history and academic CV available upon request.
www.iona.edu/academics/schools-institutes/kathleen-deignan-cnd-institute-earth-and-spirit
Program Name: Thomas Berry: Spiritual Master of the Emerging Ecozoic
Facilitator: Sister Kathleen Deignan
Dates: 4 Tuesdays, Feb 3 – 24, 10 Am Pacific
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 NOON PST 1:00 - 3:00 PM EST
Cost:
$80.00 Canadian
Please do not let cost deter you from attending.
Ask us about our funding for programs.
Location: On-line: Streaming Video via Zoom
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