Regis University,
Denver, Colorado
from June 19-22, 2025
Conference Logo by Grace Pramuk
“The Calligraphy of Snow and Rock and Sky”
Thomas Merton and the Spirit of Place
“A sign of snow on a mountainside as if my own ancestors were hailing
me.”
~ Thomas Merton, Woods, Shore,
Desert
Flying over the Rocky Mountains on his way to California, May 6th,
1968, Thomas Merton described the view as “one of the most lovely
calligraphies I have ever seen.” To “be a mountain diviner” is to
acknowledge that “we are all secrets,” writes Merton, and yet, opening
our whole selves to the deep memory and revelatory spirit of place, we
can divine a message of truth, and perhaps a way forward, in the
calligraphy of snow and rock and sky. In his journeys in California, New
Mexico, and Alaska, and in Asia, gazing on Kanchenjunga, Merton found
himself increasingly “on the edge of great realization.” What is the
essence of that realization, and what messages might be divined in the
spiritual landscapes of Merton’s final year of life? Who are the
“ancestors” – human, animal, mineral, cosmic – whose stories provide a
word of hope in this moment of reckoning for the human community and the
suffering planet? Such questions are especially fitting as we gather at
Regis University at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
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Plenary Speakers |
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Merton
in the American West |
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Opening
Sessions:
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First Timers Orientation |
Chapters Workshop
Michael Brennan
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International Perspectives on Merton
Sylvia
Grevel / Dominiek Lootens / Sophia Park / Marcela Raggio
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Merton Research and Researching Merton
Alda Balthrop-Lewis /
David Golemboski /
Mark Meade
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Emerging Scholars A
Matthew Riddle / Ethan Vander Leek / Guadalupe
Zorrilla
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Emerging Scholars B
Ryan Bell / Rosys
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Guide
to Opening Sessions
Concurrent Session Papers:
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Merton and the Web of Life
Jim Robinson / Andy Stanton-Henry
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Merton and Place 1
Michael McGregor / Mark Meade
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Merton and the New Monasticism
Sophia Park / Ed Murphy / Megan Way
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Merton and Place 2
Daniel Horan / Aaron Kerr
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Merton and the City
Jason Taylor / Ethan Strouse
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Merton's Dialogue with Islam
David Odorisio / Natana DeLong-Bas
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Merton & Finding Our Place in the World
Gordon Oyer / David Golemboski
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Merton and Ecology
Joseph Raab / Tiffany Hunsinger
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Merton, Mystical Ecology
Daniel London / Aaron Godlaski
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Communication and Journey to Unity
Patrick O'Connell / John Gillespie
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Merton and Social Commitment
Eric Martin / Anne Pearson
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Guide to
Concurrent Sessions and Workshops
Workshops, Guided Prayer &
Special Presentations:
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A Space of Desire and Imagination: Thomas Merton’s Latin America
Marcela Raggio
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Writing the True Self:
A Calligraphic Experience
Melanie-Prejean Sullivan
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The Radial Imagination
Michael Centore
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Attending to Multispecies Worlds
with Thomas Merton
Liz Burkemper
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The Merton Prayer:
An Exercise in Authenticity
Steven Denny
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Queering Place, Poetry, and Friendship: Thomas Merton and
Margaret Randall
Cassidy Hall
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Gazing with a Paradise Eye – Merton’s Zen Seeing: A Guided
Meditation
Paul Pearson
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Thomas Merton and Indigenous Wisdom
Paul Pynkoski
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Exploring Deep Memory
and the Spirit of Place in Journal
Writing
Colette Lafia
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‘When the World Looks Back’: A Musical Presentation of Sufjan
Stevens’ Seven Swans Through the Lens of Merton
Caleb Vanderleek
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Merton & NYC: Echoes of the Jungle
Douglas Hertler
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Searching for Home: Thomas Merton and Thomas Berry in
Conversation
Judith Valente / Carol Lenox
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Promptings of Place: Seeing Nature’s Calligraphies ~ A Writing
Workshop with Thomas Merton
Regina Sara Ryan
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Taizé Prayer with Thomas Merton
and Indigenous Wisdom
Liam Myers
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This Day will not Come Again
Abbi Fraser
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"A Hidden Wholeness: The
Zen Photography of Thomas Merton"
will be on Exhibit in the
O'Sullivan Fine Arts Center
Conference Registration
(including conference registration and meals - US
Dollars Only)
ITMS Member - $280.00 (Until May 15th)
Non-Member - $330.00 (Until May 15th) (Join
the ITMS)
Late Registration (May 15th - June 1st)
ITMS Member - $330.00 (May 15th - June 1st)
Non-Member - $380.00 (May 15th - June
1st) (Join
the ITMS)
Accommodation:
$250.00 (Single room for three nights - per person)
$210.00 (Shared room for three nights - per person)
Additional Lodging is Available for
Wednesday 18th June.
Print out and mail the conference:
Registration Form
or
Register using
PayPal
Cancellation Policy
Off Campus
Accommodation Options
Travel:
PDF Map of Regis Campus
ITMS
Daggy Scholarships
Daggy Youth/Student Scholarships
enable young seekers and emerging scholars to participate in an International Thomas
Merton Society Conference, thereby inspiring the next generation of Merton
readers and scholars.
These scholarships honor the
late Robert E. Daggy, founding member and second president of the ITMS,
and cover the costs
of registration, meals and accommodation.
For further information about
Daggy Scholarships and an application form go to the
Daggy Scholarship Web
Page. (Those under 18 at the time of the conference must be accompanied by a parent or adult chaperone whose registration will not be covered by the scholarship.)
For returning Daggy
Scholars some limited funding is available for those requiring financial
assistance. Please contact the site coordinator,
Chris Pramuk - [email protected], for further details.
Contact the Site
Coordinator for further information:
Christopher Pramuk
Regis University
3333 Regis Boulevard, Main Hall B-6,
Denver,
CO 80221
Email:
[email protected]
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Program Committee:
Christopher Pramuk, Denver, CO
(Chair and Site Coordinator)
Ben Burkemper, Troy, MO
Elizabeth Burkemper, Troy, MO
Roger Butts, Fort Collins, CO
Emma McDonald Kennedy, New Canaan, CT
(ex officio)
Paul M. Pearson, Louisville, KY
Paul Pynkoski, Toronto, ON
Kathleen Witkowska Tarr, Anchorage, AK
Judith Valente, Normal, IL
(ex officio)
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