ADVISORS

Pascaline Coff, OSB

Sr. Pascaline Coff is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration since 1951. She spent one year at Father Bede's ashram in S. India and was one of the founders of the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue Board. She created and edited the East-West Intermonastic Bulletin while serving as Executive Secretary for 10 years. She coordinated and participated in eight hospitality exchanges between Christian and Tibetan monastics in Asia and the U.S. She is foundress of Osage Monastery in Sand Springs, Oklahoma, U.S.A. where Father Bede enjoyed satsangs and gave numerous conferences. She is a member of the Bede Griffiths International Literary Trust. Osage Monastery is one of the the Bede Griffiths Centers which has a significant collection of his works.

Bruno Barnhart, OSB Cam

Bruno Barnhart is a monk of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, California, USA. His chief area of interest is the Christian wisdom tradition and its contemporary re-emergence. Fr. Bruno has edited The Golden String newsletter since its beginning and is the author of two books:

GOOD WINE: Reading John From the Center

SECOND SIMPLICITY: The Inner Shape of Christianity

John P. Douglas

Attorney-Mediator; Captain United States Navy Reserve (Ret.); served as President of the Maria Kannon Zen Center in Dallas, Texas, USA; Member of Bede Griffiths Trust; Camaldolese Oblate; directed famine relief program in India for three years; strongly influenced by living with Thomas Merton and the monks of the Abbey of Gethsemani.

Meath Conlan, Ph.D.

Australian Dr Meath Conlan has traveled extensively in Asia, having undertaken his first Buddhist vipassana meditation training in Thailand at the age of eighteen. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1973. The sabbatical year (1984) was spent with Father Bede Griffiths at Saccidananda Ashram in South India. Since then, with Father Bede’s mentoring, Dr Conlan has been active in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue among Christians, Buddhists, and Hindus. Dr Conlan is a Spiritual Director and each year he leads small groups on pilgrimage to the holy places of these religions. Dr Conlan has hosted Father Bede and his assistant Swami Amaldas, Zen Master Ama Samy, Vandana Mataji and Ishpriya Mataji in Australia during their speaking tours there from 1985 through 1992. At the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama Dr. Conlan has lectured on the Western contemplative tradition – especially Centering Prayer - to Tibetan Buddhist monastics in the Himalayas. He has also travelled extensively in Tibet with Tibetan teacher Khejok Rinpoche over several years. Upon Father Bede’s death in 1993, Dr Conlan was elected Co-Chair of the Bede Griffiths Trust. He holds a Master of Arts Degree from Fordham University, New York and the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of South Australia. To find out more about his written works and spiritual journeys in Asia and elsewhere please contact him directly by email: meathconlan@yahoo.com

Shirley du Boulay

Shirley du Boulay is a free-lance writer living in Oxford, England. She was for many years a producer for the BBC, first with radio, then in the Religious Department of Television. Since resigning from the BBC she has concentrated on writing and her books include biographies of St. Teresa of Avila, Desmond Tutu, Dame Cicely Saunders, Father Bede Griffiths and Swami Abhishiktananda. She is also a contributor to various collections of articles and to the International Catholic magazine The Tablet. She was married to the late John Harriott.