BAR HARBOR – Some recovery advocates and spiritual leaders have collaborated to sponsor speaking engagements by the founder of a center dedicated to promoting inter-religious dialogue and understanding.

The Rev. Thomas Keating of Snowmass, Colo., will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 22, at Mount Desert Island Regional High School and at 9:30 a.m. at the Maine Sea Coast Mission under a tent outdoors. Both events are free.

Keating is a nationally known Cistercian monk and founder of the Centering Prayer approach to contemplation. He also wrote “Open Mind, Open Heart” in 1986.

“Centering Prayer is a method of refining one’s intuitive faculties so that one can enter more easily into contemplative prayer,” he wrote in the book. “It is not the only path of contemplation, but it is a good one.”

The method of Centering Prayer also has been adapted for use in recovery work, particularly as an 11th step practice and in prison settings, according to organizers of the event. Keating refers to recovery in his writing and describes Alcoholic Anonymous as one of the most succinct and accurate expressions of Christian spirituality.

The event is sponsored by Maine Lighthouse, Maine Sea Coast Mission, Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, Hospice of Hancock County, the Alcyon Center and the Northeast Guild for Spiritual Formation.

For information, call Kathleen Miller, 288-3331 or visit the Web site, www.mainelighthouse.org.

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

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