Contemplative Creativity & Human Flourishing

Anders Cardinal Arborelius, OCD

Title to be confirmed

His Eminence Lars Anders Cardinal Arborelius, OCD, is Bishop of Stockholm, Sweden, and was made the first Swedish and Scandinavian cardinal in Church history by Pope Francis in 2017. A convert to Catholicism and member of the Discalced Carmelites since 1971, he holds a Licentiate in Spirituality from the Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum in Rome. A distinguished scholar of Carmelite spirituality, his episcopal motto In Laudem Gloriae reflects his deep commitment to contemplative prayer. He participated in the 2025 papal conclave.

Dr Susan Muto

Love is the Measure: John of the Cross and the Fullness of Human Life

In light of the lover of truth Saint John of the Cross is, Dr Muto will explore obstacles to and conditions for contemplative creativity and human flourishing, drawing upon his poetry and prose. She will pay particular attention to John's description of the mystical ladder of divine love and the depth of transformation undergone by the soul through the wondrous gift of union infused by the Holy Spirit.

Dr Susan Muto is Executive Director of the Epiphany Association and Dean of the Epiphany Institute of Formative Spirituality, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She holds a doctorate in English literature from the University of Pittsburgh and has been teaching the literature of ancient, medieval, and modern spirituality for over forty years.

Fr Iain Matthew, OCD

"Muerte en vida": The Generativity of Faith, Hope and Love in Saint John of the Cross

John of the Cross knew that the deepest creativity flows not from abundance but from dispossession. In his poetry and prose, dying — to self, to false securities, to a smaller love — becomes the very condition of fullness. This talk explores how John's own 'death in life' unlocks a generativity rooted in faith, hope, and love. In John, loss is never the last word. Life is.

Fr Iain Matthew OCD is a Discalced Carmelite priest and one of the foremost living authorities on Saint John of the Cross. A member of the faculty at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology, Teresianum, Rome, he has taught and preached the Carmelite tradition across three continents. His book The Impact of God has become a modern spiritual classic.

Prof Peter Tyler

John of the Cross and the Mystery of Creation

'Come Southern breeze that reminds us of love — Breathe through my garden releasing your fragrances…' So writes St John of the Cross on the action of the Holy Spirit. This talk explores John and 'the mystery of Creation' as he invites us to participate in the Creator's action in the world through poetry, symbol and prayer.

Peter Tyler is Professor of Pastoral Theology and Spirituality at St Mary's University, Twickenham, London. He has had a long involvement with Carmelite spirituality, authoring and editing many books on the subject. His most recent publication is John of the Cross: Carmel, Desire and Transformation (Routledge 2024).

Fr Matt Blake, OCD

Saint John of the Cross: Icon of Contemplative Creativity

What does it mean to be truly creative — not merely in the arts, but in the depths of the human spirit? Fr Matt explores Saint John of the Cross as a supreme icon of contemplative creativity: a man whose poetry, theology, and interior life were forged in darkness and emerged as luminous gifts to the Church and the world.

Fr Matt Blake OCD is a Discalced Carmelite priest and member of the faculty of the Centre for Applied Carmelite Spirituality (CACS) in Oxford. As Provincial Delegate for the Secular Carmelites in Britain, he has played a central role in nurturing the Secular Carmelite family across the country. He is currently Sub-Prior of the Discalced Carmelite community in Kensington, London.

Dr Ed Howells

Dr Ed Howells is an expert in Carmelite spirituality and mystical theology. He is a valued contributor to the summit's scholarly conversations on John of the Cross and participates in the Author Conversation panel on Saturday. Full session details to be confirmed.

Dr Joanne Mosley

Dr Joanne Mosley is an editor, writer and speaker specialising in Carmelite spirituality. She is the author of Edith Stein: Woman of Prayer and Elizabeth of the Trinity: The Unfolding of her Message. She leads the Author Conversation session on Saturday afternoon.

John Dalla Costa

The Disarmed Heart: John of the Cross and the Prophetic Path to Peace

In this time unsettled by fear and war, Pope Leo XIV has called for a radical conversion of hearts toward "integral disarmament." John of the Cross speaks as a prophet of the disarmed heart — his nada a relinquishment of all attachments that shackle the heart to illusions of possession and control, pointing toward a giftedness where the world is no longer seized but received.

John Dalla Costa has spent four decades working at the intersection of faith with business as an author, consultant and teacher. In 1996 he founded The Centre for Ethical Orientation (CEO). He co-developed the School for Prophets with CACS in 2023. Originally from Canada, he is now resident in Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy.

Dr Cyprian Blamires, OCDS

Spiritual Surgery with John of the Cross

One of the most extraordinary elements in John of the Cross's work is his penetrating psychology. His surgical scalpel probes the depths of the human psyche — yet always aiming not to distress but to heal, opening a way through the blockages that close us off from the inflow of the divine passion.

Dr Cyprian Blamires OCDS is a historian, writer, and translator. He is currently writing a book on the legacy of St Teresa of Avila and is involved with the Secular Carmelites at Regional and National Level, currently helping in the foundation of new OCDS groups across the UK.

Dr Heather Ward

Truth is Symphonic: John of the Cross and the Creativity of Tradition

In the world John of the Cross inhabited, creativity was never about novelty for its own sake, but about entering so deeply into the truth already given — in Scripture, theology and the mystical tradition — that something fresh and luminous could emerge. Truth is symphonic: inexhaustibly rich, capable of infinite variation.

Dr Heather Ward is a scholar and writer whose work sits at the intersection of literature, theology and the contemplative tradition. She has been a faculty member of CACS since its foundation. Her background in social work and clinical theology gives her writing and teaching a distinctive pastoral warmth and human depth.

Dr Stephen J. Costello

Painting as Prayer: Contemplating Salvador Dalí's Christ of Saint John of the Cross

One of St John of the Cross's two surviving sketches inspired Salvador Dalí's famous 1951 painting. Dr Costello will give an outline of the life of the Spanish Surrealist, offer a theological interpretation of his San Juanist painting, and culminate the presentation with a visio divina.

Dr Stephen J. Costello is a prominent philosopher, psychoanalyst, logotherapist, and founder of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Ireland. He is the author of 17 books and lectures in Lumen Dominican Centre in Dublin and on the CACS programme.