Fr. Kennedy will give a talk in the school for past  pupils, parents and guests, on Monday 12th December at 7.30 pm .

Fr. Robert Kennedy, S.J.  MRobert E. Kennedy, S.J., author of Zen Spirit, Christian Spirit and Zen Gifts to Christians, is one of several practicing Catholic men and women who are recognized by the Buddhist community as zen teachers.  He is a licensed psychoanalyst and professor emeritus of theology at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City.  He is a representative of the Institute for Spiritual Consciousness in Politics at the United Nations.

As a Christian Fr. Kennedy has found meaning and deep reverence in the practice of zen.  His work reflects the Jesuit statement on mission and inter-religious dialogue, which calls on Jesuits to be familiar with other religious traditions and to immerse themselves  in theological exchange in a dialogue of life, action and religious experience.  He is active in interfaith work, teaching zen to persons of all faiths, conducting retreats in the United States, Mexico, Ireland and England.  He teaches at Morning Star Zendo in Jersey City, NJ.

He studied zen in Japan with the Japanese master Yamada Roshi. He continued his study under Maezumi Roshi in Los Angeles and Bernard Tetsugen Glassman Roshi in New York; in 1997 he received inka, the formal seal of approval from Glassman Roshi and received the title Roshi, or Master. He holds doctorates in Theology from the University of Ottawa and from St. Paul University in Ottawa, a Masters in Theology from Sophia University in Tokyo, and a Doctor of Ministry in Psychology and Clinical Studies from Andover-Newton in Boston. He is a graduate of the Blanton-Peale Institute of Religion and Health in New York.  Website:  www.kennedyzen.org.

"Robert Kennedy is one of the most eloquent exponents of a Catholic Christianity rooted deep in his own lived experience of faith. His wonderfully poetic style speaks of Zen as a way to overcome the human tendency to theorize, by total immersion in a stillness where an intuition of God's immanence can be realized..." (Michael Barnes)