Fr. Justin Lanier comes to S. Clement’s from Bennington, Vermont where he was the 27th Rector of St. Peter’s Church, in the Diocese of Vermont. Fr. Justin’s formation includes time in the Trappist Monastery St. Benedict’s; Snowmass, Colorado where he was under the abbacy of Dom. Joseph Boyle, O.C.S.O. and direction of Fr. Thomas Keating O.C.S.O. Fr. Justin continued to be guided by these two men until their deaths in 2018. As part of his formation, Abbot Joseph sent Fr. Justin to train in Zen monasticism. This led Fr. Justin to Kyoto, Japan where he entered the training monastery Tofuku-sodo as a non-clerical monk under Keido Fukushima Roshi, Rinzai Zen Master and head Abbot of Tofukuji lineage temples.  

In 2017 one year before Fr. Thomas’ death, he and three other prominent western Christian contemplative teachers; Frs. Laurence Freeman, O.S.B., Tilden Edwards, and Richard Rohr, O.F.M. gathered together at St. Benedict’s; Snowmass.  The intention of this gathering was to connect a number of their students, and to entrust and encourage these young contemplative leaders in nurturing and sharing the contemplative wisdom of the Gospel.  Representative of Fr. Thomas Keating and his teaching of Centering Prayer, Fr. Justin was invited and participated in this exchange and its continuing ministry.

Fr. Justin joins us with his wife Heather, and his two daughters.