NEW ROCHELLE, NY (October 25, 2010) Sister Kathleen Deignan, CNP, Ph.D., professor of religious studies and founder and director of Iona College’s Spirituality Institute, was honored at GreenFaith’s fifth annual awards celebration for her musical and liturgical contribution to the religious-environmental movement. The event was held Saturday, October 23 at Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston, New Jersey.
“Few artists have done as much as Kathleen Deignan to give voice – in music and writing – to our bond with creation,” said the Rev. Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith’s Executive Director. “We are thrilled to honor her.”
A sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame, Kathleen Deignan has written extensively on classical and contemporary Christian spirituality, including her books: When the Trees Say Nothing: Thomas Merton’s Writings on Nature and Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours. She is composer in residence at the Benedictine Grange in West Redding, Connecticut where for more than 30 years she has led the sung prayer of that community.
She is also artist-in-residence at Schola Ministries, which has published 12 recordings of her original sacred songs and psalms. One of the first GreenFaith Fellows, Sister Kathleen has dedicated her teaching ministry to promoting the wisdom legacies of Thomas Merton and of mentor and geologian, Fr. Thomas Berry, in whose honor she has recently inaugurated The Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona College.
Founded in 1992, GreenFaith is an inter-faith environmental coalition which educates, inspires, equips and mobilizes people of diverse spiritual backgrounds as environmental leaders.
For more information about Iona College’s Spirituality Institute, visit www.scholaministries.org