INTEGRAL CHRISTIANITY: THE VISION OF CELTIC CHRISTIANITY FOR THE CRISIS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

John Main Seminar 2025 – Integral Christianity: The Vision of Celtic Christianity for the Crisis of the 21st Century* *Dublin & Online | 6–9 November 2025* DUBLIN

John Main Seminar 2025 – Integral Christianity:
The Vision of Celtic Christianity for the Crisis of the 21st Century Dublin in person & Online | 6–9 November 2025

DUBLIN (25 August) – This November, The World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) hosts the John Main Seminar 2025 at Balally Parish in Dublin, with the theme “Integral Christianity: The Vision of Celtic Christianity for the Crisis of the 21st Century”.

The event will also be available live online, with access to recordings.

Celtic Christianity was one of the most vibrant expressions of the Christ- event in history. It developed its own distinct forms of worship and achieved a striking mystical relationship with its pre-Christian roots, especially in the experience of God in Nature and in art. It was monastic in character and organisation and challenged the more centralised forms of Roman Christianity which eventually—or so it seemed—absorbed it. But the spirit of a Celtic style of Christian living is by no means extinct. This Seminar will avoid historical romanticism but will explore the reappearance of Celtic Christian wisdom today at a critical moment for human evolution. We will do this through spirituality, poetry, art, the Celtic sense of the sacred in Nature, pilgrimage, monasticism—and meditation.

In highlighting and celebrating these delicious springs of hope, we will also be engaged in questioning what we can do, what we should do, in our crisis once we have tasted its timeless wisdom. The Seminar will be hosted at the parish of Balally, which is manifesting the potential that the Celtic Church strove—with much success for centuries—to make real.

This year’s Seminar will be enriched by contributions from the key speakers but also from the participants. We want it to be like an immersion in a stream of hope and the remembrance of a living legacy—recovering an inspirational form of Christian faith but for our very present needs today. This will come together as we conclude with a ‘synodal’ experience, sharing in small groups and as a whole what the Spirit has taught us and seeing more clearly where it is leading us.

Key Voices in the John Main Seminar:

Abbot Columba McCann OSB – From Glenstal Abbey, he guides retreat and meditation, gently leading us toward stillness.
Professor Jane Williams – McDonald Professor of Christian Theology (St. Mellitus College), addresses “Power and Mission in the Celtic Tradition”.

Fr Laurence Freeman OSB – Director of WCCM and Bonnevaux, opens the seminar with a keynote: Integral Christianity: “The Vision of Celtic Christianity for the Crisis of the 21st Century”.
Br Colmán N. Ó Clabaigh OSB – Historian of Irish monasticism, reflects on “The Book of Kells and the Myth of a Monastic Golden Age”.

Dr Barry White – Physician and meditation researcher, co-leading the gathering “The World Will Be Saved by Consciousness with Fr Laurence”.
John F. Deane – Poet, founder of Poetry Ireland; joins us exploring “Celtic Monastic Poetry, Entanglement, and the Cosmic Christ”.

Fr Jim Caffrey Balally P.P. & Cinzia Angius Balally Parish Leader – Host parish voices, presenting “The Voice of Balally Contemplative Parish”.

More Information and Registrations: [wccm.org/jms2025](https://wccm.org/jms2025)

About the John Main Seminar

The John Main Seminar has been an annual event since 1984. It was established to honour John Main’s memory and develop the influence of his teaching in new fields and dialogue with the modern world.

About WCCM

The WCCM is a global spiritual community united in the practice of meditation in the Christian tradition. It shares the fruits of this practice widely and inclusively, serving the unity of all and building understanding between faiths and cultures. Members of WCCM span more than a hundred countries, with about sixty-seven national coordinators. Its international centre is Bonnevaux—an ancient monastic site now dedicated to global peace and dialogue around the daily practice of meditation—near Poitiers in France.

Contact:
Leonardo Correa, Director of Communications Email: leonardo@wccm.org
Phone: +55 51 99689 7412