Students of A Course in Miracles often discover Richard Rohr and feel they’ve found a Catholic version of the same teaching. They’re partly right and partly wrong, and the honest answer matters. Fr. Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest who has not formally endorsed A Course in Miracles. His non-dual Christianity does occupy adjacent territory to ACIM, however, and the resonance students feel is real. This article walks through the genuine parallels and the genuine divergences with verifiable Rohr quotes and full citations.
I’ve taught A Course in Miracles for over 20 years. I read Rohr’s daily meditations and recommend his work to students who want a contemplative Christian companion to their Workbook practice. He is not an ACIM teacher. He is something else, and something close.
Key Takeaways
- Richard Rohr is a Franciscan priest (ordained 1970), founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC, 1987) in Albuquerque, NM. His daily meditation reaches over 333,000 readers.
- His teaching of “false self / true self” parallels ACIM’s ego vs Christ Mind. Immortal Diamond (2013) is the clearest entry point.
- His “pain that is not transformed gets transmitted” formulation is structurally identical to ACIM’s projection teaching.
- His Universal Christ (2019) overlaps with ACIM’s Christ Mind metaphysically but stays anchored in Catholic Incarnational theology.
- Important: Rohr has not formally endorsed A Course in Miracles. The resonance students feel is from shared contemplative lineage (Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Bonaventure, Merton), not from cross-endorsement.
Immortal Diamond (2013) is the clearest entry point.
Who Is Richard Rohr?
Richard Rohr was born March 20, 1943, in Topeka, Kansas. He entered the Franciscans in 1961, was ordained a Catholic priest in 1970 (OFM, Order of Friars Minor), and earned a Master of Theology from the University of Dayton the same year. He founded the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati in 1971 and then the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1987.
In 2013 he co-founded the Living School with James Finley and Cynthia Bourgeault as a two-year program in Christian mysticism. His daily meditation email has grown into one of the largest contemplative platforms in the world; the most recent verifiable figure (August 2019) puts it at 333,720 readers.
Major books include Everything Belongs (1999), Falling Upward (2011), Immortal Diamond (2013), and The Universal Christ (2019). The Living School curriculum is anchored in Christian mystics: Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton.
Parallel #1: False Self / True Self ↔ Ego / Christ Mind
The cleanest parallel is Rohr’s foundational distinction between the false self and the true self. From Immortal Diamond (2013), Rohr writes:
“Your egoic false self is who you think you are, but your thinking does not make it true. Your False Self is a social and mental construct to get you started on your life journey.”
“Your egoic false self is who you think you are, but your thinking does not make it true. Your False Self is a social and mental construct to get you started on your life journey.”
And:
“Your True Self is that part of you that is going to live forever and sees truthfully. It is divine breath passing through you.”
“Your True Self is that part of you that is going to live forever and sees truthfully. It is divine breath passing through you.”
ACIM frames the same distinction as ego versus the Son of God. ACIM says: “The ego is the mind’s belief that it is completely on its own” (Text Chapter 4, Section II). The mistaken self in both Rohr and ACIM is a thought-construction that pretends to be the whole self. The real self in both is something deeper that the construction obscures.
For more on the ACIM ego framework, see how A Course in Miracles addresses the ego mind.
Parallel #2: “Pain Not Transformed Gets Transmitted”
Rohr’s most-quoted formulation, from A Spring Within Us (CAC Publishing, 2016):
“If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it, usually to those closest to us: our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and, invariably, the most vulnerable, our children.”
“If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it, usually to those closest to us: our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and, invariably, the most vulnerable, our children.”
This is structurally identical to ACIM’s teaching on projection. ACIM’s framework: what is not healed in the mind is projected outward as judgment, criticism, or attack on the people closest to us. Rohr names the same phenomenon in plain English. He arrives at the same diagnosis through the Catholic contemplative tradition rather than through ACIM.
Parallel #3: Forgiveness as Perception Shift
Rohr’s writing on forgiveness mirrors ACIM’s central teaching that forgiveness is not about pardoning a real wrong but about seeing past the perception that there was a wrong to begin with. From a CAC Daily Meditation:
“Once you experience being loved when you are unworthy, being forgiven when you did something wrong, that moves you into non-dual thinking. You move from what I call meritocracy, quid pro quo thinking, to the huge ocean of grace, where you stop counting, you stop calculating.”
“Once you experience being loved when you are unworthy, being forgiven when you did something wrong, that moves you into non-dual thinking. You move from what I call meritocracy, quid pro quo thinking, to the huge ocean of grace, where you stop counting, you stop calculating.”
And:
“We cannot sincerely love another or forgive another’s offenses inside of dualistic consciousness.”
“We cannot sincerely love another or forgive another’s offenses inside of dualistic consciousness.”
The mechanism differs from the Catholic sacrament of confession (which Rohr fully affirms in its own context) but the contemplative move into non-dual seeing is the same move ACIM trains in its Workbook Lesson 134: “Let me perceive forgiveness as it is.”
Parallel #4: Contemplation as the Path
Both traditions treat contemplative practice as the gate through which transformation happens. Rohr’s definition:
“Prayer is looking out from a different set of eyes, which are not comparing, competing, judging, labeling or analyzing, but receiving the moment in its present wholeness and unwholeness. That is what is meant by contemplation.”
“Prayer is looking out from a different set of eyes, which are not comparing, competing, judging, labeling or analyzing, but receiving the moment in its present wholeness and unwholeness. That is what is meant by contemplation.”
ACIM trains essentially the same posture through its 365-lesson Workbook. ACIM’s “holy instant” (Text Chapter 15) is the moment when the practicing mind drops into the same kind of receptive seeing Rohr describes. Different vocabulary, same direct experience.
Parallel #5: The Universal Christ ↔ The Christ Mind
The deepest and most carefully handled parallel is Rohr’s “Universal Christ” framework, developed in his 2019 book of the same name. From The Universal Christ:
“Christ is God, and Jesus is the Christ’s historical manifestation in time.”
“Christ is God, and Jesus is the Christ’s historical manifestation in time.”
And:
“Instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would be better to say that Jesus came into an already Christ-soaked world.”
“Instead of saying that God came into the world through Jesus, maybe it would be better to say that Jesus came into an already Christ-soaked world.”
ACIM’s “Christ Mind” carries similar weight: the awakened consciousness that is the shared truth of every person, distinct from the personality or body. Rohr’s framework affirms the historical Jesus and the Catholic Incarnation in a way ACIM does not. But the contemplative direction (Christ as universal reality, not just historical figure) is parallel.
The Shared Contemplative Lineage
The reason these parallels feel so close is that both Rohr and ACIM draw from the same well: the Christian mystical tradition. Rohr’s named ancestors are Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, John of the Cross, and Thomas Merton. ACIM’s vocabulary, especially around the “holy instant,” “Atonement,” “the Father,” and “the Son,” sits inside that tradition even when it redefines those terms.
For students who find both speak to them, that is not a coincidence or an evidence of cross-endorsement. It is shared contemplative DNA. Reading Eckhart or Julian alongside both is the third leg that anchors the conversation.
Where Rohr and A Course in Miracles Part Ways
The honest counterpart to the parallels is the divergence list:
- Rohr remains anchored in Catholic and Franciscan tradition. ACIM is non-denominational and explicitly channeled.
- Rohr affirms the historical Jesus and the Incarnation as real. ACIM treats the crucifixion as a “extreme teaching example” rather than a salvific event.
- Rohr’s lineage is the Christian mystics (Francis, Bonaventure, Eckhart, Julian, John of the Cross, Merton). ACIM’s anchors are different: Helen Schucman’s scribing 1965-1972, Kenneth Wapnick’s interpretation, Marianne Williamson’s popularization.
- Rohr writes inside Catholic sacramental theology. He affirms the Eucharist, confession, the Mass. ACIM has no sacramental structure.
- Rohr critiques include orthodox Christian concerns that his Universal Christ language drifts toward perennialism, which is the same space ACIM occupies. The overlap is real, and the divergence is also real. Rohr stays inside the Catholic tradition; ACIM does not.
For more on how ACIM compares with traditional Christian theology, see the Catholic view of A Course in Miracles and A Course in Miracles and Christianity.
How to Read Rohr Alongside A Course in Miracles
From students I’ve worked with, here is what tends to work:
- Subscribe to the CAC Daily Meditation email. Read it first thing in the morning, before opening the ACIM Workbook lesson. Rohr’s frame primes you for ACIM’s daily practice.
- Start with Falling Upward (2011) or Immortal Diamond (2013). Either is the right entry point. The Universal Christ (2019) is denser and best after the first two.
- Notice the divergences as you read. Rohr affirms the historical Jesus and the Catholic Incarnation; ACIM does not. The texts can live in your life side by side, but they are not the same text and they do not say the same things.
- Use Rohr as a bridge if you came from a Catholic background. Many ACIM students who left Catholicism find Rohr is the bridge back to an open relationship with the contemplative Christian tradition without abandoning ACIM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Richard Rohr endorse A Course in Miracles?
No. Richard Rohr has not formally endorsed A Course in Miracles as a Christian text or scripture. He has quoted Marianne Williamson (ACIM’s most famous teacher) in his Daily Meditations on at least one occasion, but there is no record of him teaching ACIM at the Center for Action and Contemplation, hosting ACIM curriculum in the Living School, or publicly endorsing ACIM. The parallels students notice between Rohr’s teaching and ACIM are real, but they come from shared contemplative lineage (Eckhart, Julian of Norwich, Bonaventure, Merton), not from cross-endorsement.
Is Richard Rohr’s “false self / true self” the same as ACIM’s ego / Christ Mind?
Structurally parallel, vocabulary different. Rohr defines the false self as “a social and mental construct” and the true self as “that part of you that is going to live forever and sees truthfully” (Immortal Diamond, 2013). ACIM defines the ego as “the mind’s belief that it is completely on its own” (Text Chapter 4). Both traditions point at the same observable phenomenon: there is a constructed self that we mistake for who we are, and a deeper self that the construction obscures.
What is Richard Rohr’s “Universal Christ” and how does it relate to ACIM’s Christ Mind?
Rohr’s “Universal Christ” (developed in his 2019 book of the same name) is the framework that Christ is the eternal cosmic reality, with Jesus as Christ’s historical manifestation. ACIM’s “Christ Mind” is the awakened consciousness shared by every person. The two frameworks both treat Christ as a reality larger than the historical Jesus, but Rohr affirms the historical Jesus and the Catholic Incarnation; ACIM does not. The overlap is real; the divergence is also real.
Should I read Richard Rohr before or after starting A Course in Miracles?
Either order works. Many students subscribe to Rohr’s CAC Daily Meditation email and read it each morning before doing the day’s ACIM Workbook lesson. Rohr’s frame primes you for ACIM’s daily practice. If you are a beginner to both, start with Rohr’s Falling Upward (2011) or Immortal Diamond (2013), then begin the ACIM Workbook with Lesson 1.
Where can I find Richard Rohr’s writing on forgiveness, the ego, and contemplation?
The Center for Action and Contemplation publishes Rohr’s Daily Meditation free to over 333,000 subscribers. His major books on the themes that parallel ACIM are: Everything Belongs (1999), Falling Upward (2011), Immortal Diamond (2013), The Universal Christ (2019), and A Spring Within Us (CAC Publishing, 2016). All are available through standard bookstores and as audiobooks.
I’m Maria Felipe, a Cuban-American ordained Pathways of Light minister and ACIM teacher with 20+ years of practice. Richard Rohr’s daily meditations are part of my own morning practice; reading him before working the day’s Workbook lesson has been one of the most useful pairings I have found. If you want a structured way to work with A Course in Miracles, see my Happy Miracle Membership.
