Rory McEntee is an author, scholar, educator, and contemplative activist. As a close friend and mentee of the late Brother Wayne Teasdale, Rory helped to found the Interspiritual Movement, traveling and participating in dialogues with world spiritual leaders, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis. Rory served as administrator for the Snowmass InterSpiritual Dialogues—a 30-year project convened by Father Thomas Keating, engaging contemplative leaders from multiple faiths in intimate dialogue and contemplative practice.
As a leader in the new monastic movement, Rory is Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Charis Foundation for New Monasticism & Interspirituality, which supports various projects in interspirituality and new monasticism, including the “Future of Religion and InterSpirituality” Dialogues, Charis Circles, Charis Meditation training, HeartFire Festivals, the Thomas Keating Interspiritual Seminars, and Charis InterSpiritual Formation Program.
As a scholar, Rory has done doctoral work in Applied Mathematics at the University of Southern California and has a PhD in Theological and Philosophical Studies in Religion from Drew University. His current research and writing concentrates on questions of democracy, contemplative spirituality, university life, religion, decolonial practice, and social justice. Rory also has interests in evolutionary theory, the nature of language, mysticism, consciousness studies, and philosophy. Rory teaches at Drew University, facilitates contemplative retreats around the U.S. and internationally, is co-author of The New Monasticism: An Interspiritual Manifesto for Contemplative Living (with Adam Bucko, Orbis Books, 2015), and has published many essays on interspirituality, new monasticism, and the academic discipline of “theology without walls.” In the past, Rory served as a teacher, department head, and vice-principal in secondary education. You might catch him snowboarding, traveling the globe, playing basketball, or meditating on any given day.