The following selections are samples of themes that can be adapted for workshops, seminars, and retreats for any group or organization. For more information, contact us at nking@uwindsor.ca

Catholic Women’s League (CWL) Workshops on Music and Spirituality
This workshop explores what is meant by our spirituality and how music may challenge and help us get in touch with that spirituality. The workshop illustrates in practical ways both music and our spirituality are dependent upon how we understand and express our deepest experiences.

Workshops on the Taize Experience, its Prayer, Music,and Spirituality
Taizé is an ecumenical international community in southern France dedicated to peace, trust, and reconciliation. The Taizé Community is especially concerned to help young adults find meaning and value in their lives.
We have been to Taizé on several occasions and led groups there. Besides offering several workshops on the Taizé experience, we have led Taize style prayer for many groups in diverse settings. Taizé-style prayer is an hour of meditative song, silence, and brief words. This experience leads us gently into our own centre as a sacred place where our worth is affirmed, and where we Taizé are connected with others and the silent Mystery.

Sample themes
Taizé : a way to find meaning in our lives.
Exploring the music of Taizé
Taizé as aid to ministry
Taizé as pathway to peace
Taizé and finding balance and meaning in our lives
Taize and exploring the joy and meaning of silence

A Musician’s Journey: Teaching to and from Our Inner Voice. Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Convention. Halifax, NS. 2013
This paper looks at the notion of spirit and inspiration and the elements beyond technique that are essential in the creation of vocal and instrumental music that arises from the inner spirit of the musician and is able to reach the spirit or soul of an audience.

The Arts and the Quest for Meaning. Conference of the Canadian Centre for Arts and Learning. Winnipeg, MB. 2010.

Steal Away Home: The Spirituals as Voice of Hope, Festival500, Academic Symposium. St. John’s, NL, 2009.

Towards a Spirituality of Forgiveness and Healing, Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Religion and Conflict, Assumption University, Windsor, ON. 2017.

Thomas Merton on Social Justice. Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Religion and Conflict, Assumption University, Windsor, ON. 2016

The Sacredness and Dignity of the Human Person: Inter-Religious and Inter-Worldview Perspectives. Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Religion and Conflict, Assumption University, Windsor, ON. 2014

Karl Rahner on Ethics and Interfaith Dialogue. Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Religion and Conflict, Assumption University, Windsor, ON. 2013.

Full articles available on request. Contact us at nking@uwindsor.ca

A Study of the Relationship between Personal Values and Moral Reasoning of Undergraduate Business Students.

Norman King and Jane Ripley. “Music, Meaning, and Wellness.” The Canadian MusicTeacher, September 2015 and January 2016.
This article is based on our presentation at the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association, (CFMTA)Vancouver BC, July 9, 2015. We explore how music is at once a giftthat reaches to our inner self and a call to live from that authentic core. The challenge is to bring that same spirit to teaching and to society, and thereby become a healing and life-giving presence in today’s world.

Norman King and Jane Ripley. “The Music Lesson … The Lesson of Music.” CK Child, Fall 2013.
Through the gift of music, we may support and encourage our children to find and live out of their true selves, to develop imagination, wonder, creativity, and to awaken to the world around them with greater sensitivity and compassion.

Norman King and Jane Ripley. “Spirituality and Vocal Music: An Exploratory Perspective.” Sharing the Voices: The Phenomenon of Siinging V. Proceedings of the International Symposium. St. John’s NL. 2010.
Spirituality may be understood as the vision, values, and support system that gives meaning to a person’s life, that is, a sense of identity and worth, belonging and purpose. An essential dimension of this quest is the experience of beauty. One expression of beauty is vocal music, which may be a window to and from the sacred core of life; what T. S. Eliot calls, the still point of the turning world.

Norman King. “Spirituality and Human Worth: An Exploratory Perspective.” Journal of Integrative Studies, vols. 7-8, 2003.
This article explores a non-religious basis for a sense of meaning to one’s life and for human rights and corresponding responsibilities. These are rooted in the dignity or value of the human person, such as found in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The article suggest a foundation for ethics that can be affirmed by persons of various backgrounds and traditions.

Norman King and Maureen Muldoon. “A Spirituality for the Long Haul: Response to Chronic Illness.” Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 30, no. 2, 1991.
This article outline a spirituality appropriate for those whose lives are affected by chronic injury or illness. An emergent spirituality of the whole person acknowledges the basic dignity of every person, their drive to growth and wholeness, and the special assistance in this regard required for those suffering from chronic health issues.

Norman King and Maureen Muldoon. “Spirituality, Health, Care, and Bioethics.” Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 34, no. 4, 1995.
This paper draws upon life situations and narrative ethics in order to articulate connections between the discipline of bioethics and decision-making in the area of health care.

Lan, G., Gowing, M., McMahon, S., Rieger, F and N. King, A Study of the Relationship between Personal Values and Moral Reasoning of Undergraduate Business Students. Journal of Business Ethics. 2006.
This empirical study indicates what values are important to senior accounting students and their level of moral reasoning, and provides important information to educational institutions and businesses.

Norman King. “Thomas Merton” in Non-Violence – Central to Christian Spirituality, J. T. Culliton (ed), Toronto: Edwin Mellen Press, 1982.
This study provides an overview of Thomas Merton’s understanding of spirituality as blending inseparably personal depth and social justice, both of which for non-violence in attitude and action.

Touching the Spirit… Reflections from the Heart – by Jane Ripley and Norman King

A collection of reflective verse that attempts to articulate experiences that are deeply personal yet universal.
Cover Photography – Dale Ripley

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An exploration of basic human experiences that at once put us in touch with our inmost self and with our deepest longing for something more and for meaning in our lives.

In the light of Karl Rahner’s theology, this book explores the notion that the basic value is the sacredness or worth of the person, that we express our underlying stance on life in how we respond to one another individually and in social structures, and that the path to forgiveness and healing remains always open.