Centering Prayer in the Treatment of Mental Illnesses – via Zoom
April 29 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
3-4pm Eastern Daylight Time (New York); 7pm GMT, 2pm Central, Noon Pacific Time
Free
Dr. Bob Hesse will report the results of neuroscientific studies on improvement in quality of life using Centering Prayer in the treatment of: PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, Parkinson’s Disease, and excessive fear of death (NDE). He will discuss using the results of these studies to establish ministries in medical treatment facilities.
The studies were published in scientific journals and summarized in Dr. Hesse’s book: Faith and Science: A Journey into God’s Mystical Love. Its chapter titles are the agenda of the first Faith and Science Conference in Rome on 17-20 June 2025, see www.faith-science.org.
Dr. Hesse will review these findings and then there will be time to submit questions via the chat.
No need to register. The Zoom link will be posted here a few days before the event and also shared in the April e-bulletin.
About Robert J. Hesse, Ph.D.
Robert Hesse is a permanent Catholic deacon in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. In 2011 at the encouragement of Fr. Thomas Keating, he co-founded Contemplative Network (CN) and is its Chairman. CN is dedicated to interfaith contemplative prayer, medical research, and establishment of ministries based on the research. He is a practicing contemplative in the Trappist Christian tradition. During a retreat at Gethsemani monastery, Trappist Monk Thomas Merton was an inspiration in Hesse’s contemplative prayer practice. Hesse was appointed by Fr. Thomas Keating, commissioned presenter and co-coordinator for Contemplative Outreach Ltd. (COL) in Houston. In response to an invitation by The Dalai Lama to Keating, Hesse was Keating’s emissary to the first COL dialogue with the Mind & Life (M&L) Institute for research on contemplatives.
Hesse is retired board Vice Chairman and faculty of the interfaith Institute for Spirituality and Health (ISH), which serves the Texas Medical Center (TMC), the largest in the world; Adjunct Faculty at the University of St. Thomas (UST); faculty member of the Spitzer Magis Center and Spiritual Direction Institute at the Emmaus Spirituality Center; and instructor at the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in Rome. He served: on the Deacon Spiritual and Community Life Committees of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston; as a retreat team member at Holy Name Retreat Center; and on numerous ACTS and prison Kolbe prison retreats. He is a founding advisor of The WorkFaith Connection™ and cofounder of the first regularly scheduled Faith and Science Conference in Rome.
