Centering Prayer Leaders
Brother James Dowd, OSB
Brother James Dowd has been a Benedictine monk for many years and is the founding Prior of The Benedictine Way and the founding Spiritual Guide for the Contemplative Underground. Before serving as the Monk in Residence for the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, he served at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park, NY and at Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery in Grahamstown, South Africa. Brother James is passionate about exploring the intersection of the quest for Christian social justice and the contemplative life. The Benedictine Way was founded so an inter-generational community of followers of Jesus might find a way to reinvigorate our little corner of the church with that quest.
In Br. James’ travels he discovered a kind of “underground” of people who either were contemplative or wanted to be contemplative throughout the United States, South Africa, Germany, Great Britian, and Canada. In all these places, people longed for a more peaceful life and desired to work for a more peaceful world. Having led many workshops on Centering Prayer and other forms of contemplative prayer, it became clear to Br. James that people wanted to live contemplatively within the context of a community – but that community was difficult to find. Thus, the Contemplative Underground was born. Contemplative Underground brings together the desire for contemplative life and the longing for community, and it is led within the framework of Benedictine spirituality.
The Rev. Rita Carson Kendagor
Mtr. Rita Carson Kendagor was born and raised in Kansas City, KS, and has lived in several regions of the US as well as in Kenya. Rita is a graduate of Sumner High School, Wichita State University, and University of Kansas for graduate work. She is a certified Spiritual Director, having completed the Souljourner’s Spiritual Direction Training Program in 2017. In 2022, Mtr. Rita retired after working over 30 years as a clinical social worker. She attended the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry and is now ordained as an Episcopal priest.
Mtr. Rita is currently assistant rector at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City, MO, where she offers programs on contemplative spirituality, coordinates pastoral care, and offers Spiritual Direction. Mtr. Rita leads contemplative retreats in the Kansas City area, and teaches Centering Prayer and other forms of meditation. Her approach to Centering Prayer follows the basic guidelines of Contemplative Outreach: “I have a sacred word which I use to help me to focus – when my mind wanders, I return “ever so gently” to my sacred word. I usually begin a group meditation sit with a short contemplative reading, and I will end a sit in the same way. I find silence a very welcoming and necessary form of prayer.”
Having been widowed in 1993, Mtr. Rita is a single parent of two young adult children, and a grandparent of two lovely cats – Binx and Miss Sadie.
The Rev. David R. Stock
Born and raised in Logan, Utah, Fr. David attended Utah State University, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in 1988. After graduation, he became certified as an addictions counselor and worked in both inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment settings for eight years. Having been immersed in a Centering Prayer practice since the early 1990s, Fr. David began to discern a call to ordained ministry, eventually leaving for seminary at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California in 1997. After ordination, Fr. David served parishes in St. Louis and Oklahoma City, then moved to Nebraska in 2020, with his spouse, The Rev. Emily Schnabl. He is currently the Rector of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Lincoln and Priest-in-Charge of St. Andrew’s Church, Seward. Fr. David has also had one foot in religious life throughout, having been a Family Brother of Assumption Abbey, a Trappist/Cistercian monastery in Ava, Missouri, and now an Oblate of Incarnation Monastery in Omaha, aka The Benedictine Way.
Twelve-Step spirituality and contemplative prayer have been recurring themes in Fr. David’s life and ministry. He has long worked to integrate the monastic practices of the Divine Office, sacred reading and silent prayer within the busy-ness of life, with varying degrees of success. These practices fit well with Step Eleven, which states “We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact God as we understood God...” Fr. David has been a regular contributor to the online Centering Prayer group on Saturday mornings. He currently serves as chair of the Recovery Commission for the Diocese of Nebraska. In his view, the Twelve Steps, as a way of healthy living, and Contemplative Prayer, as a core prayer practice, are deeply related. They both deepen an awareness of the Presence of God within and around us, lead us to know and become our true selves, and inspire us to live at peace with others and with all of creation.