The Song of the Earth — Kathleen Deignan —Environmentalists Mini-Series #6
C:WED is pleased to feature Kathleen Deignan in our “Environmentalists Mini-Series #6.”
Kathleen Noone Deignan, CND, PhD (born December 17, 1947), is an Irish-American theologian, spiritual teacher, author, and songwriter of contemporary liturgical and contemplative music.
She is a sister of the Congregation of Notre Dame and Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at Iona University where she taught from 1980 – 2021.
She now serves as founder of the Deignan Institute for Earth and Spirit, a multi-faceted project in support of the cultivation of global citizens for the emergence of an ecological civilization.
Sister Kathleen’s teaching life began when she entered the Congregation of Notre Dame (CND), which is the religious community, as she describes them, of “liberating educators” who had been her teachers, and formed her, during her years from 1961-1965 when she was a student at Saint Jean Baptiste High School in Manhattan.
There the sisters awakened her to the challenges of the Christian life lived at a critical moment in human history.
There also, she was introduced to three of the most formative mentors of her life:
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
Thomas Merton (1915-1968)
and
Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
Kathleen’s Teilhardian studies became intensive in the novitiate of the Congregation of Notre Dame during her formation period from 1966 – 1969 under the mentorship of visiting Jesuits from Connecticut’s Fairfield University.
Because her novitiate years began in1966, they coincided with the ending of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), called by Pope Saint John XXIII—and during its global implementation.
This radically formative time period offered her an immersion into the cosmic vision of Teilhard de Chardin, which set her on a path toward the study of cosmo-theology and the nascent field of ecological theology.
The contemplative and liturgical richness of the season following the Second Vatican Council also afforded the space and silence for opening to the richness of her abiding teacher, Thomas Merton, whose wisdom became a deep font of grace for her own ministry of contemplative animation and teaching.
Following a mounting desire to teach theology, Kathleen began higher studies at Fordham University, where she met her most influential mentor, Father Thomas Berry.
Thomas Berry (November 9, 1914 - June 1, 2009)
She continued her graduate studies at Fordham under Berry and Dr. Ewert Cousins, both of whom were Teilhardian scholars who later co-founded the American Teilhard Association, on whose board Kathleen has served.
Following her Master’s Degree, she earned a Doctorate in Historical Theology with Dr. Ewert Cousins, under whom she explored the richness of the mystical schools of the Christian medieval period.
Ewert Cousins (June 23, 1927 - May 30, 2009)
Gravestone inscription: “Creation is a book in which we can read God." —Ewert Cousins
Fun Fact: The deaths of Berry and Cousins, who were close scholarly associates and friends, occurred almost concurrently—within a period of two days.
Kathleen concluded her doctoral studies with her in-depth work on the “great mother archetype” embodied in Ann Lee, founder of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing—more commonly known as the Shakers.
Kathleen’s work was published as: ChristSpirit: The Pneumatological Eschatology of Shaker Christianity.
ChristSpirit is a multi-faceted portrait of the phenomenon of a female Christ and the religious novelties and anomalies that reality unfolded throughout the several centuries of the history of the most vibrant and successful utopian community in American history from its pre-Revolutionary arrival here in1774 to the present.
Presently, Kathleen’s work continues to be inspired by Thomas Berry’s vision of “The Great Work” of our time, the urgent challenge to “reinvent the human” by our transition from a destructive, industrial civilizational era to what he has named an “ecozoic” era characterized by a mutually enhancing, sustainable relationship with the Earth.
Such an evolutionary emergence of a more benign species must of necessity begin with the transformation of consciousness that moves the human from an exploitive, anthropocentric worldview toward a recovery of ecological intimacy with the living planet.
Understanding that our planetary crisis is primarily a spiritual one, Kathleen continues to study and explore the wisdom traditions and pathways that illuminate both the causes and cures of our disorientation that undermines our capacity to perceive the essential interrelationship of all terrestrial phenomena—what Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing.”
Following this intuition of “interbeing”, she continues to be a lifelong student of religions, ecology, psychology, and cosmology, all of which have informed her practice of teaching in and beyond the academic world.
At Berry’s death in 2009, she and three other students of his founded the Thomas Berry Forum for Ecological Dialogue at Iona, on whose board she presently sits, and which she still co-convenes as a monthly contemplative ecologists’ circle that opens a space for further inquiry and investigation on Berry’s proposals for Earth healing.
Deignan at Iona
During her 40-year tenure at Iona University, Kathleen taught nearly 9,000 students in her Religious Studies classes, developing courses in global spiritualities and practice, as well as the newly emerging field of ecological theology.
With her treasured colleague Dr. Brian Brown, a mentee of Thomas Berry, she taught newly crafted courses in sacred cosmology and the religious dimensions of the natural world.
With other colleagues, she assisted in developing the Environmental Studies minor and the student support organizations it generated.
As president Emerita of the International Thomas Merton Society, she also founded The Merton Contemplative Initiative at Iona.
Over the decades, Kathleen Deignan’s work evolved toward the founding of the Iona Spirituality Institute, where she continued her creative and formative programs in spirituality studies for a wider audience of adult learners.
With the generous benefaction of an Alum, this endeavor ultimately matured into the Kathleen Deignan, CND Institute for Earth and Spirit, the multi-faceted effort mentioned at the beginning of this post.
This Institute aims to implement Pope Francis’ integral ecological encyclical, Laudato si’, and to serve as a creative platform for promoting the visionary legacy of Thomas Berry.
As she navigates the new terrain of elderhood, Kathleen is creating a cyber-home for her creative, pedagogical, Ecozoic, and contemplative works to be freely offered to emerging teachers and spiritual animators.
She hosts several podcasts as part of herAnam Cara Contemplative Guidance work, including “Eldering in Grace,” “Becoming Earthling,” and other programs on Ecozoic spirituality.
Dr. Kathleen Deignan’s publications include ChristSpirit: The Pneumatological Eschatology of Shaker Christianity and When the Trees Say Nothing: Thomas Merton’s Writings on Nature, as well as numerous published articles on integral ecological spirituality. .
In addition, she offers to us what she considers of her own writings her three jewels for contemplative transformation: Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, Teilhard de Chardin: A Book of Hours, and Thomas Berry: A Book of Hours.
Ah, then..
There is another lovely aspect of Sr. Kathleen’s talents.
A faith-based entrepreneur, she is also co-founder of Schola Ministries – a project in service to the contemplative and liturgical arts which has produced a dozen compact discs of her original sacred songs.
Many of these songs were developed during her more than 40-year ministry as liturgical composer in residence and leader of song for the Benedictine Grange.
She is currently working to publish the prayers of the founder of “the Grange,” John Battista Giuliani, an exceptional artist and spiritual visionary whom she met in 1968 when she was a student at Sacred Heart University.
John Battista Giuliani (1932-2021)
Sister Kathleen and Father John both had a mutual commitment to the post-conciliar liturgical renewal. In that environment her native gift of song blossomed into a rich practice of composing and leading music for worship in the Eucharistic community at the Benedictine Grange that developed under Father John’s charismatic leadership.
Her own worship life at “The Grange,” celebrated in a pre-Civil War barn on a verdant hill in West Redding, Connecticut, set roots deep within the soil and under the sky of a woodland homestead, nurturing her own reawakening to the sacred vitality of the natural world.
The Benedictine Grange, West Redding, CT founded by Father John Giuliani in 1978
People came from Connecticut, New York, and many places afar to celebrate and share together in Sunday liturgies at “The Grange,” while also enjoying Kathleen’s lovely voice as she sang her own musical compositions.
Those people included my husband Bruno and me (Anne), and many of our friends from St. Francis of Assisi Church, our parish in neighboring Weston.
Schola Ministries will keep and curate the offerings of her 60-year commitment to the “cry of the Earth,” which is at once heard in the glorious hymn of creation and the anguish of living-kind.
Her songs are available freely on YouTube (see YouTube Kathleen Deignan Music).
I (Anne) must add that I first met Kathleen Deignan in a winter evening in the early 1980’s in a tiny office of the St. Benedict’s Guild in what was then Georgetown (now Weston), CT. The meeting that winter night was part of a theological discussion series for the Grange that Kathleen had been running.
Bruno and I had recently moved with our children to a home just a mere quarter mile down the road.
And I attended the meeting.
Little did I know that it would also be a spark toward my own theological career, and of my longtime relationship with Kathleen as a friend and colleague.
While I was studying theology at Fordham University myself, I created and oversaw a panel for the Mid-Atlantic American Academy of Religion (MAAR) annual meeting, and I invited Kathleen to be on the panel.
She readily accepted to present her work on Wisdom and Prophecy: Thomas Merton’s Exhortation for Transformative Education. She joined the three other presenters: Eleanor Rae on Divine Wisdom: Her Significance for Today; Eleanor Ashe on Teilhardian Reflections on the work of Ewert Cousins and Robert Muller, and myself on Maria Montessori, the Mystic as Mentor of Global Peace.
We were all quite surprised and honored when we learned that the MAAR had selected our panel, “Learning to See the World As a Whole: Insights on Peace from Mentors of Wisdom,” as the recipient of their 1997 Kate Connelly Weinert award!
I feel very blessed and honored to have known Kathleen for so many years as colleague and friend and to be enriched by her wisdom.
In closing, Kathleen offers us this blessing from Thomas Berry as a sober encouragement to continue the Great Work of human transformation for the sake of the life of the commune of the Living Earth:
“We come here to begin to relieve an ancient wrong.
We wish especially to restore to this Earth its ancient joy.
For while much of what we have done is beyond healing,
there is a resilience throughout the land
that only awaits its opportunity to flourish once again
with something of its ancient splendor.”
Thomas Berry
From Sr. Kathleen for our own spiritual inspiration and contemplation:
◊ Kathleen Deignan Music on YouTube
https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCeyGG2o20TkjWxpDiE9up_g
◊ You are invited to receive Sister Kathleen’s program invitations by sending your email address to kpdeignan@gmail.com
◊ https://www.iona.edu/academics/schools-institutes/kathleen-deignan-cnd-institute-earth-and-spirit
The Earth and Spirit Institute logo is a detail from the Book of Kells begun by our patron, Saint Columba at Iona. The vibrant orb suggests the dynamic cosmos in its myriad radiations of creativity and splendor.
IN YOUR OWN WORDS:
Previous Post: “Under the Spring Moon” Written by Anne Andersson February 27, 2026
—Beautiful reflection. I loved to learn more about Ramadan and the similarities we do share.—CG
—I really liked this one a lot! 👏👏👏—MA
—Thank you for a very informative piece. Let's not forget that Passover begins on April 1 and ends April 9. The stars are aligned.—RE
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