The Welcoming Prayer Workshop
Connecting the Consent of Centering Prayer with Daily Life
with international speaker Mary Dwyer
hosted by St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church
Saturday, January 4, 2025
9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (check-in at 8:30 a.m.)
St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church (Resurrection Hall)
1955 S. Belcher Rd., Clearwater, FL 33764
$25 Suggested Donation (payable by check or cash at the event)
Continental breakfast provided. Bring a bag lunch!
Contact person: MIKE DAVIS mertonmind@gmail.com
Please register below:
“The Welcoming Prayer is a method of consenting to God’s presence and action in our physical and emotional reactions to events and situations in daily life. The Welcoming Prayer helps to dismantle acquired emotional programs and to heal the wounds of a lifetime by addressing them where they are stored—in the body. It contributes to the process of transformation in Christ initiated in Centering Prayer” (www.contemplativeoutreach.org).
About Mary Dwyer: Mary Dwyer is a long-time student of Fr. Thomas Keating and has been practicing Centering Prayer since the 1980s. In the early 1990’s, she lived at Chrysalis House, a contemplative live-in community experiment blessed by Fr. Thomas. Her housemates included Mary Mrozowski, David Frenette, and Cathy McCarthy. The community lived according to a rule of life and became an incubator of practice and programs in the early years of Contemplative Outreach’s growth. Her experience at Chrysalis House – what she refers to as her “inpatient” or “residential treatment time” – proved to her that a life of prayer, consent, and practice is real, stable, and deeply rewarding. Mary Mrozowski taught her that a devoted life of prayer was the real work of life; what we did the rest of the time was just how we made a living.
Mary received her undergraduate degree in economics from Georgetown University and spent some time as a banker and college administrator. After her time at Chrysalis House, she returned to school, became a licensed clinical social worker, and practiced this vocation for the next 15 years while maintaining her commitment to the contemplative life and the mission of Contemplative Outreach. In 2008 she met her beloved Juan through the Living Flame program. She moved to Miami, FL in 2009 where they married. After Juan retired, they moved to Erie, PA in July 2018.
Mary is currently in private practice as an LCSW in the Erie area. She also serves as a member of the Gift Committee and the Welcoming Prayer Service Team of Contemplative Outreach. She previously served as Chairperson of the Contemplative Outreach, Ltd. Governing Board; member of the Contemplative Outreach Faculty; and Coordinator for the Living Flame program and Coordinator of the Miami Chapter. Mary now devotes her time between private practice and giving retreats and workshops on behalf of Contemplative Outreach throughout the U.S. and internationally.