Expert: Dr. Jay Forrest - 7/21/2004

Question
Joan Borysenko mentioned in an article that she belonged to a mystical Christian group. I am not aware of such groups.  Additionally, Catholics have claimed a mystical branch which includes the likes of St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Theresa of Avila but I can't find evidence (so far) of this. So what are/is the name of a mystical Christian group and mystical Catholic branch and where are they?

Answer
Hi,

The best place to start is at her web site www.joanborysenko.com  But she doesn't mention which group she belongs to. There are numerous groups out there, both Catholic (www.contemplative.com) and nondenominational (www.renovare.org).  The Benedictine and Carmelite Orders are also mystical in character.

In one of her articles she says that "So I declared a time out and, hosting an ecumenical group of forty-nine spiritual seekers, returned to India for the third time in twelve years." (http://www.spiritsight.com/writing/joabor/part10.htm)  So the group she is talking about may be her own that she formed. Or, as the above article suggests is could be with any group of Christians.

That is the most I could come up with. You could email her directly and ask her (more like her assistant). http://joanborysenko.com/html/contact.html

Thank you for your question

Jay N. Forrest
http://jnf.addr.com