Kathleen Deignan

Retired Professor of Religious Studies at Iona College, Deignan has founded and directed several creative initiatives for the "celebration and study of the spiritual life".[1] Dr. Deignan received her bachelor's degree in English Literature and Education from Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT which later awarded her an honorary degree. Professor Deignan earned a master's degree in Spirituality Studies and a doctorate in Historical Theology from Fordham University in New York, where she studied with geologian Thomas Berry and later received the university's Sapientia et Doctrina Award for her service to renewal of the church in 2009.[2] She is the author of Christ Spirit: The Eschatology of Shaker Christianity and writes and lectures widely on classical and contemporary spirituality, particularly the legacy of spiritual master Thomas Merton. Her 2003 book, When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature, is the first collection of Merton's writings on nature and her latest work, Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours, is a daily breviary for engaged contemplatives drawn from his nature poetry and psalms; she also released a two-disc CD "A Book of Hours: At Prayer with Thomas Merton" composed of selected readings interwoven with her original music to complement the book.

She has written over two hundred songs for worship and prayer, many of which have been recorded by Schola, and she has been singer-composer with two liturgical ensembles. With friend and fellow artist, Evelyn Avoglia, she founded Schola Ministries,[3] a publishing and performing project in service to the liturgical and contemplative arts. Sister Kathleen was a ministerial collaborator for nearly 30 years in the worship community of the Benedictine Grange founded by iconographer and sacred artist Father John Giuliani. This ministry which began in 1968 with the campus ministry community at Sacred Heart University, gave birth to a vibrant sacred song ensemble Anima Schola; that lives on in recordings since the closing of the Benedictine Grange in 2018.

As a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame, founded by Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, she is also engaged in the mission of liberating education, which at times is expressed in peace and social/ecological justice concerns, and also spiritual animation. She initiated and formerly directed the Iona College Institute for Peace and Justice Studies in Ireland and the Iona College Spirituality Institute's Celtic Spirituality Pilgrimage to Ireland which has fostered and focused her scholarly and creative interests on the richness of her Celtic inheritance. One of her current projects is exploring the images and metaphors of Celtic ways of prayer and song.

Deignan is also engaged in the contemporary ministry of interreligious dialogue as a form of peace-making, and her interfaith engagements with Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists have brought her around the world. Her parents, Patrick Paul and Bridget, were born in the west of Ireland - counties Leitrim and Roscommon - and later emigrated to London where Kathleen was born. Another emigration brought the Deignans to New York City where Kathleen was raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Her sister, Ann Deignan, is a physician and poet, likewise engaged in creative expression, and in ministry to the childran of Nicaragua. In her first book of poems, Mythos Gate, Ann escorts us into the creative realm of the poet's imagination in its habit of deep storytelling, largely inspired by the mythologies of the ancient world. Her latest volume is Migration, with poems that explore the mystery of impermanence. Ann's first play, Mind the Way, was performed in a reading at the New Works Series at the Irish Repertory Theater in New York City in April 2006.

The death of their mother has given rise to a memorial in her honor, The Bridie Fund, for orphan girls in Nicaragua.

Sr. Deignan has been, acclaimed by the National Catholic Reporter as "marvelous, inspiring, comforting, jolting, consoling...".[4]

• 1984 – A Garden Once Again: Songs in Celebration of Creation
• 1984 – Of Thanks and Wonder:
• 1997 – Stations: Songs for the Paschal Journey
• 1998 – Borne by Grace: Songs of Contemplation and Praise
• 1999 – Bride Spirit: Songs of the Beloved
• 1999 – Visitation: Songs of the Congregation of Notre Dame
• 2000 – Pax Amor Christi: A Trinity of Songs
• 2000 – Sabbath: Songs for Worship
• 2002 – The Servant's Heart: Songs of Devotion
• 2003 – Returning: Songs for the Journey Home
• 2005 – Sentinel of the Invisible: Jeanne LeBer
• 2008 – The Gift: Songs of the Grateful Heart
• 2009 – A Book of Hours: At Prayer with Thomas Merton
• 2009 – Ave: Songs of the Congregation of Notre Dame
• 2010 – A Garden Once Again: Songs in Celebration of Creation

• 1992 – Christ Spirit: The Eschatology of Shaker Christianity. ISBN 978-0-8108-2489-8
• 2003 – When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature. ISBN 978-1-893732-60-5
• 2007 – Thomas Merton: A Book of Hours. ISBN 978-1-933495-05-7
• 2009 – Thomas Merton: El Libro de las Horas. ISBN 978-84-293-1818-0
• 2009 – Thomas Merton: Księga godzin. ISBN 978-83-61568-24-7

• Official Website
• Deignan's Posts on Huffington Post
• Kathleen P. Deignan, Ph.D. – Profile at Iona College
• Deignan's recordings on CD Baby