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Seton Hall University

Contemplative Community Week (March 28 - April 1) to Kick Off with Presentation by Dr. Gregory Bottaro  

Mindfulness - Release the StressOn March 28th at 4:30 p.m. in the Jubilee Hall Auditorium Seton Hall will host Dr. Gregory Bottaro for event titled "Mindfulness, Spirituality, and Mental Health." Mindfulness practices like meditation and gratitude have helped many people to manage their anxiety and improve their mental health. However, spiritually-minded people might wonder how compatible mindfulness practices are with their own religious traditions. In this conversation, Dr. Bottaro will share what current research and his experience as a Catholic psychologist can tell us about how these various practices promote well-being and how mindfulness relates to Christian beliefs and practices. The discussion will be followed by time for Q&A. The event will be moderated by Dr. Patrick Manning, Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology.

Dr. Bottaro is a clinical psychologist,founder of the CatholicPsych Institute, and the author of The Mindful Catholic: Finding God One Moment at a Time. He received his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences, a graduate school in Arlington, VA that integrates Catholic philosophy and theology with sound, empirically validated psychology. He lived four years in the Bronx with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, serving the poor in the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi. Six years after leaving the Franciscans he returned to NYC as a psychologist. The CatholicPsych Institute began there in 2012 and has since grown to 5 offices with 12 therapists serving clients around the globe.

Dr. Bottaro's presentation will kick off Seton Hall's second annual Contemplative Community Week (March 28 -April 1), a week of presentations, meditation, prayer, and contemplative practices aimed at inviting the whole Seton Hall community to promote holistic well-being, enter into study more thoughtfully and deeply, and form stronger personal and communal bonds. Events and resources for the week will be shared in a variety of modalities - in person and virtual, indoor and outdoor, synchronous and asynchronous. Co-sponsors of Contemplative Community Week include the Center for Faculty Development, Counseling and Psychological Services, Dare to Care, Campus Ministry, the Center for Catholic Studies, UpliftSHU, and Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology.

This week is part of the work of the Seton Hall Contemplative Community Initiative, an initiative that originated in the Center for Faculty Development and has grown into a collaboration of faculty, staff, and students and numerous campus units. The aims of this initiative include:

  • Creating spaces and opportunities for inquiry into meaning, purpose, spirituality, and the sacred;
  • Promoting the interconnectedness of individuals, groups, and environments on our campus and in our local community;
  • Advancing the mental health and well-being of students and faculty;
  • Forming servant-leaders with the skills and dispositions needed to promote peace and justice locally and in the world;
  • Forming holistic, humanistic professionals. This includes forming students to bring their full humanity to their professions and forming faculty to bring their humanity to their research, teaching, and service.

Previous events and activities include reading groups, weekly meditation sessions, a faculty seminar on contemplative pedagogy, faculty retreats, and guest speakers like Dr. Daniel Barbezat.

See the Center for Faculty Development website for more details and the most up-to-date schedule of Contemplative Community Week events.

All members of the Seton Hall community (faculty, students, and staff) are invited to connect with the Contemplative Community initiative and explore more resources on the Contemplative Community Teams channel.

Categories: Campus Life