International Thomas Merton Society
NEWSLETTER
Vol.
21, No.
2
Fall, 2014
Daggy Scholars and the Centenary
At the ITMS Thirteenth General Meeting at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield,
CT, Veronica Dagher, chair of the ITMS Advancement Committee, announced the
initiation of the ITMS “One Hundred for the Hundredth” campaign, which seeks to
encourage ITMS members to donate $100 to the ITMS in preparation for the
Centennial of Thomas Merton’s birth on January 31, 1915. Part of the campaign
focuses on the William H. Shannon Memorial Fund, which will provide funds for
Daggy Scholarships, with the hope of raising enough money to bring 100 young
people to the ITMS Fourteenth General Meeting to be held at Bellarmine
University, Louisville, KY on June 4-7, 2015. In conjunction with the campaign,
interviews with past Daggy Scholars are being conducted by Fr. Jeff Cooper, CSC
to highlight the continuing impact on them of Merton and of the program. What
follows is the third of these interviews, with 2009 Daggy Scholar Joseph
Madonna,
a graduate of Iona College, New Rochelle, NY and a Latin and
theology teacher at Iona Prep, New Rochelle, NY. Comments by Daggy Scholars can
also be found on You Tube: “What Thomas Merton Means to Me” at
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTeuUZQE_x-Jldy_yO5qXkg. Further information
on the campaign with a form for sending donations is available at
https://merton.org/ITMS/advancementflyer.pdf.
If I said the name
“Merton,” what is the first word or phrase that comes to mind?
If
you said Merton’s name to me, the first word or phrase I would think of would
either be “true self” or le point vierge.
What first
attracted you to Merton? How did you come into contact with him?
What first attracted me to Merton was his smile on the cover of the edition of
Seven Storey Mountain on my mother’s bookshelf that I never quite
managed to pick up as a child/teenager. I first came into contact with Uncle
Louis as an undergraduate student. I had an open slot for a course, and several
of my friends signed up for a night class on Merton’s writings, and that was the
beginning of a wonderful friendship, and a shift in career goals.
What surprised you about Merton (shocked, consoled, affirmed)?
What
surprised me at first was his frankness in discussing his conversion process,
and the experiences that drove him closer into relationship with God, and
eventually into the monastery. Nowadays, I am surprised by just how relevant his
works are, not just to my own work in the classroom, but to the situations my
students face every day regarding interfaith dialogue, technology, warfare and
the need for spiritual peace.
What holds your interest in Merton now?
What holds my interest in Merton nowadays is his work in the formation of the
novices at Gethsemani. As a teacher of Religious Studies at a Catholic high
school, I look to him for insight and different ways of approaching the
materials covered in my courses.
Where do you see yourself in regards
to Merton five years from now (scholarly interest – personal spirituality –
connection with other Daggy Scholars – the ITMS community)?
God
willing, I will still be teaching my students about Merton, and incorporating
his work into my curricula. Other than that, I just look forward to where my
relationship with Merton will continue to take me, one book, one essay, one poem
at a time.
2015
ITMS General Meeting Program Set
At its June meeting, the Board of Directors of the
International Thomas Merton Society approved the
program for the ITMS Fourteenth General Meeting,
to be held June 4-7, 2015 at Bellarmine University,
Louisville, KY. The theme of the meeting is “Merton
100: Living the Legacy.” Plenary speakers include
Christine M. Bochen, James Finley, Rev. Bryan N.
Massingale and Archbishop Rowan Williams. The
program will also feature an address by ITMS President
David Belcastro, a panel on interfaith dialogue with
Sidney Griffith, Edward Kaplan and Bonnie Thurston,
an art exhibit entitled “Heaven in Ordinary: Painting
Merton’s Photographs” by Charles MacCarthy,
twenty-one concurrent sessions, nineteen workshops
and guided prayer sessions, meditation sessions
with Richard Sisto, Gerard Koehn and Mark Filut,
OCSO, liturgy, including a closing Mass celebrated
by Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, and
entertainment.
Christine M. Bochen
is a founding member and
past president of the ITMS. She is editor of
Learning to
Love,
the sixth volume of Merton’s complete journals,
The Courage for Truth,
the fourth volume of Merton’s
collected letters, as well as several other Merton works.
She is co-author with the late William H. Shannon and
Patrick F. O’Connell of the award-winning
Thomas
Merton Encyclopedia.
James Finley
is a clinical psychologist in private
practice in California. As a young man he lived as a
monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, where Thomas
Merton was his novice master and spiritual director.
He is the author of
Merton’s Palace of Nowhere and
several other volumes, and leads retreats and workshops
throughout the United States and Canada on living a
contemplative way of life in the midst of today’s busy
world.
Rev. Bryan N. Massingale
teaches at Marquette
University, with particular focus on Catholic Social
Teaching, liberation theologies, African American
religious ethics and racial justice. He is past president
of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He
has served as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, on issues of social ethics and is the
author of
Racial Justice and the Catholic Church.
Rev. Rowan Williams
served as the 104th Archbishop
of Canterbury from December 2002 to December
2012. He was previously Bishop of Monmouth and
Archbishop of Wales after a teaching career at Cambridge
and Oxford Universities, and is currently Master
of Magdalene College at Cambridge University since
January 2013. He has authored numerous volumes of
theology, spirituality and poetry, including
A Silent
Action: Engagements with Thomas Merton
(2011).
Opening sessions on Thursday afternoon of the
conference will include a First-Timers’ Session with
Robert Grip; Chapters Workshop with Michael Brennan;
“Creating a Community of Merton Scholars” with
David Belcastro, Patrick O’Connell, Paul Pearson and
Joseph Raab; a showing of Morgan Atkinson’s film The
Many Storeys and Last Days of Thomas Merton, and
Emerging Scholars’ Sessions with Benjamin Bradley,
Jason Brown, Joshua Currie, Phil Garrity, Casey Holland,
Michael Jerge, Hyeokil Kwon, M. Sophia Newman,
Jaechan Anselmo Park, Anna Robertson and Lilin Wu.
Concurrent sessions include:
• “Merton and Church”: Raymond Carr & John Moses;
• “Merton and Dialogue with
Asia”: Jon Douglas Anderson & Patrick F. O’Connell;
• “Merton and
Discipleship”: Fernando Beltrán Llavador
& Daniel P. Horan;
• “Merton and Environmental Responsibility”: Kathleen
Deignan & Marilyn Sunderman;
• “Merton and Gender”: Christopher Pramuk &
Peter
Savastano;
• “Merton and Historical Rebels”: Michael A. Brennan
& Jon Sweeney;
• “Merton and Interfaith Dialogue”: Susanne Jennings
& Cristobal Serrán-Pagán;
• “Merton and Liberation”: Mark C. Meade & Robert
Rowen-Herzog;
• “Merton and Living Contemplatively”: Jonathan
Ciraulo & Alan Kolp;
• “Merton and Living in the World”: Peter Ellis &
Ryan Scruggs;
• “Merton and Meaning”: Jeffrey Cooper & David
Henderson;
• “Merton and Peace”: William Apel & James Cronin;
• “Merton
and Personhood”: Nass Cannon & Jonathan
Sozek;
• “Merton and Poetry”: Deborah Kehoe & Lynn Szabo;
• “Merton and
Racism”: Paul Dekar & Michael
McGregor;
• “Merton and the Contemplative Pause”: Donald
Grayston & Gary Hall;
• “Merton and the Inner Journey”: Fiona Gardner &
Michael Plekon;
• “Merton and Zen”: Leslie Alldritt & Edward Sellner;
•
“Merton as Educational Model”: Dominiek Lootens
& Thomas Stewart;
• “Merton, Politics and Progress”: David Golemboski
& Gordon Oyer;
• “Merton, Writers and Saints”: John P. Collins &
Paul Quenon.
Workshops, Guided Prayer and Special Presentations
include:
• “Consonantia: Poetry and Jazz as a Parable of the
Soul”: Angus Stuart;
• “The Echo of an Echo of a Voice Piercing the Silence:
A Prayer Service of Silence, Music and Words
Inspired by Thomas Merton and Abraham Joshua
Heschel”: Jeffrey Kiernan;
• “Gloria Mundi”: Matthew Gesicki;
•
“How Does the Apple Ripen? Merton, Mepkin and
Contemplative Aging”: Lyndall Hare, Guerric Heckel,
OCSO & Christian McNamara;
• “In the Memory Palace of Thomas Merton”: Kevin
Burns;
• “Making All Things New: Teaching Merton in a
Twenty-first-Century Classroom”: Joseph Madonna;
• “Merton, Arasteh and Final
Integration”: Larry
Culliford;
• “Merton’s Groundbreaking Path of Peace”: John Dear;
• “Praying in Gratitude for the Church of Our Friends”:
Jonathan Montaldo;
• “Sea & Sky: A Contemplative Performance of
Robert Lax’s Poetic Masterpiece”: Steve Georgiou
& Jackie Chew;
• “Shadow Raids on the Unspeakable”: Reg Bradley;
• “Simple Gifts: Meditating with the Legacy of Thomas
Merton and the Shakers”: Paul M. Pearson;
• “The Spirituality of
Restlessness: Merton as a
Model for Twenty-first-Century Contemplative Life”:
Johnny Sears;
• “Still Speaking: The Long Encounter of Thomas
Merton and Dom James – A Reading for Two
Voices”: Roger Lipsey;
• “Thomas Merton – Alive at Fourth and Walnut”:
James Nagle;
• “Thomas Merton and the Post-human Adolescent –
Identity Formation in a Connected World”: Glenn
Loughrey;
• “Thomas Merton: Inviting the Edges of Awe”:
Marianne Heib.
The program committee for the Fourteenth General
Meeting is chaired by ITMS Past President Kathleen
Deignan, CND, with Paul M. Pearson as site coordinator;
other members of the committee include ITMS
President David J. Belcastro, Christine M. Bochen,
James Conner, OCSO, Robert G. Grip, Judith Hardcastle,
Joseph Madonna, Mark C. Meade, Jonathan
Montaldo, Erlinda G. Paguio, Melanie-Prejean Sullivan
and Monica Weis, SSJ. Registration materials,
with further information on the schedule, costs and
accommodations for the conference were included
in the Summer 2014 issue of The Merton Seasonal.
Information is also available at the Merton Center/ITMS web site:
https://merton.org/2015.
Shannon Fellowships Awarded
At its June meeting, the ITMS Board of Directors awarded 2014 Shannon
Fellowships to three scholars,
William Murphy, M. Sophia Newman and Monica Weis, SSJ. William Murphy will use
his grant to examine Merton’s writings as a point of reference for exploring the
abandonment of mysticism and contemplation in Protestant churches; Sophia Newman
will use her grant to consider Merton’s writings, particularly on nature and
ecology, as a resource for evaluating the contemporary practice of hydraulic
fracturing (fracking); Monica Weis will use her grant to research a proposed
book on Merton and the Celtic tradition.
The Shannon Fellowship program was established in 1997 in honor of the late
Msgr. William H. Shannon, the founding president of the ITMS, to promote
scholarship on Merton and his work. Up to five annual awards, of a maximum of
$750 each, are granted to scholars for research on primary-source Merton
materials at the Merton Center at Bellarmine University or other archival
collections. This year’s selection committee includes Paul M. Pearson (chair),
Fiona Gardner and Joseph Quinn Raab.
The deadline for applications for Shannon Fellowships for 2015-2016 is March 15,
2015. Awards must be used between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. Awards will be
based on the quality of the proposal submitted and on the need for consulting
archival materials at the site proposed. Applicants must be members of the ITMS;
they may join the Society at the time of application by including a check for
$25, made out to “ITMS”, along with their proposals. Current officers and Board
members of the ITMS, as well as grant committee members, are not eligible for
fellowships during their term of office. Fellowships may be granted a maximum of
two times to any applicant.
Application for Shannon Fellowships must include the following:
• a detailed
proposal of 500-750 words explaining the subject and goals of the applicant’s
research and the rationale for consulting primary sources at the Merton
collection selected by the applicant;
• a letter of recommendation from a
scholar familiar with the applicant’s qualifications and research interests;
• a proposed expense budget: grants will cover costs of travel to and from
collections; expenses for accommodations and food during time of research at
archives; costs of photocopying;
• disclosure of any other sources of funding
awarded or applied for, with amounts received or requested.
Applications are encouraged from established scholars,
from researchers without academic affiliation,
and from students and younger scholars, including
those engaged in research for theses and dissertations.
Completed applications for fellowships should be
sent to Dr. Paul M. Pearson, Director, Thomas Merton Center, Bellarmine
University, 2001 Newburg
Road, Louisville, KY 40205; email:
[email protected]. The committee’s recommendations
will be presented at the June, 2015 meeting of the
ITMS Board of Directors, who will make the final decisions on awards, and
results will be communicated to applicants shortly thereafter.
Daggy Scholarships Available
The International Thomas Merton Society will
once again sponsor the Daggy Youth/Student Scholarship
Program to make it possible for young people
to participate in the ITMS General Meeting. The program is named in honor of the
late Dr. Robert
Daggy, founding member and second president of the ITMS and longtime director of
the Thomas Merton
Center at Bellarmine University. Scholarships cover
all costs (except transportation) of attendance at the Fourteenth General
Meeting of the ITMS, to be held
at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY, June 4-7,
2015. The awards will also include one year’s free
membership in the ITMS. Young people between
the ages of fourteen and twenty-nine, and full-time
undergraduate students up to the age of forty, are invited to apply.
Scholarship applicants should submit a statement explaining why they are
interested in learning more
about Thomas Merton and how they think they would benefit from attending the
ITMS General Meeting.
They should also obtain a recommendation from a
youth minister, campus minister, pastor, teacher or
other qualified adult explaining in what capacity he/
she knows the applicant and why the applicant should be considered as a
qualified candidate for an ITMS scholarship.
Completed applications, including the recommendation,
must be submitted by March 15, 2015, to the scholarship committee chair, Jamie
Fazio, Nazareth
College, 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618-3790;
e-mail: [email protected]. Applications
should include
the age of the applicant, proof of educational status (if
applicable), telephone number and email address (if
available) as well as a return address. An application
form and further information can be found at:
https://merton.org/ITMS/scholarships.aspx.
Any ITMS member who knows an eligible young
person / student that would benefit from attending the
2015 General Meeting in Louisville should encourage
him or her to apply for a scholarship.
Nominations Sought for ITMS Board
Members of the International Thomas Merton Society
are invited to submit suggestions for qualified
candidates to be nominated for election to the ITMS
Board of Directors. Proposed candidates must be ITMS
members. Each submission should be accompanied
by a brief description of not more than 100 words summarizing the suggested
candidate’s qualifications.
Proposals should be sent by November 1 to ITMS
Nominations Committee Chair Judith Hardcastle at
[email protected].
ITMS
Authors
Jim
Forest has recently published
Loving Our
Enemies: Reflections on the Hardest Commandment
(Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014), in which he discusses nine disciplines of active
love to live out
Christ’s command in the Sermon on the Mount to
love our enemies. Archbishop Rowan Williams calls
the book “A statement of the Gospel challenge and
the Gospel hope so clear that it is frightening: this is
real, this is possible, this cannot be written off – and
this demands change here and now in me. A book to
be deeply grateful for.”
* * * * * * *
Unquiet Vigil: New and Selected Poems
by Paul
Quenon,
OCSO (Orleans, MA: Paraclete Press, 2014) features work developed from five
decades of monastic life at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Pulitzer Prize finalist
Maurice Manning says of the volume: “These
poems pinpoint the tensions inherent in a spiritual
life. The self must be present and yet the self must
be willing to be negated. One seeks knowledge but
also freedom from knowledge. One must be at home with what is said through
silence. These are some of
the mysteries of faith and the words of these poems invite me into
them. By reading, we partake of these
words and much more. It is a joy to have this book.”
Jane
Marie Richardson, SL (1928-2014)
Jane Marie Richardson, SL, a member of the Loretto
religious community for 67 years, died March 10, 2014 at the order’s motherhouse
in Nerinx, KY. Born
Mary Jane Richardson in Louisville, KY on June 2,
1928, daughter of Roy Clinton Richardson and Elsie
Margaret Kippes Richardson, she was educated by
the Loretto sisters at St. Benedict’s Elementary and
at Loretto High School in Louisville and joined the
order immediately after high school, receiving the
habit on April 25, 1947. During her first six years
in the community she taught music in elementary
schools in Denver and St. Louis, receiving her bachelor’s
degree in music in 1956 from Webster College
in St. Louis. She then returned to Louisville to teach
music at her alma mater, Loretto High School, and
received a Master’s degree in Musicology at the
Eastman School of Music. She subsequently taught
at Webster College and Marillac College, served as
Assistant Mistress of Postulants and later Mistress
of Postulants at the Loretto Motherhouse, studied at
Regina Mundi in Rome and the Institut Catholique
in Paris, and was elected in 1964 to the order’s General
Council and in the same year accompanied the
Loretto superior, Sr. Mary Luke Tobin, to Rome for
the Second Vatican Council, where Sr. Luke was the
only official American woman observer. With Sr. Luke
she attended the retreats for contemplative prioresses that Thomas Merton
organized at the Abbey of Gethsemani
in December 1967 and June 1968, and later
edited the transcripts of these retreats, published as
The Springs of Contemplation
(1992). After serving
as director of newly professed sisters at the order’s
St. Louis House of Studies for four years, in 1968
she returned to Kentucky and became the principal
author of the order’s revised rule, “I Am the Way,” which has continued to guide
the community until the
present day. Two years later, she founded Cedars of
Peace, a contemplative retreat on the grounds of the
Motherhouse, where she lived in solitude until 1990,
while composing more than 150 songs for meditation
and liturgical settings and participating in work for
justice and peace, particularly for Central America.
Moving to Louisville to live with another sister suffering
from Alzheimer’s disease, she continued to
live and work there until late 2013, serving on the Loretto staff as resource
person for spirituality, offering
spiritual direction, writing articles and doing retreat work. She was a founder
of the Louisville Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society.
Her reminiscences of Merton were published in an
interview with Rev. George Kilcourse entitled “Life
through the Lens of Inner and Outer Freedom” in The
Merton Annual
13
(2000).
Suzanne Zuercher, OSB (1931-2014)
Sister Suzanne Zuercher, OSB, an active member of the Chicago Chapter of the
International Thomas Merton Society and author of two books on Merton, died on
June 14, 2014 at St. Scholastica Monastery in Chicago, IL after 63 years as a
member of the Chicago Benedictine community. Daughter of the late Charles and
Clara Zuercher, she was born July 13, 1931. She was raised in the Park Ridge
section of Chicago and graduated from the Benedictine-run St. Scholastica
Academy in 1949, joining the community that same year. After making final vows
in 1951, she studied at Loyola University, Chicago and graduated with a
bachelor’s degree in English. She taught at various elementary schools in the
Chicago area and joined the St. Scholastica faculty in 1960, first as a teacher
and later as school psychologist, guidance director and college counselor. In
1967 she received a master’s degree in clinical psychology from Loyola, and
later became a licensed clinical psychologist. In the early 1970s she served as
campus minister at Loyola’s Water Tower campus and later taught at the Institute
of Spiritual Leadership at Loyola, becoming co-director of the program from 1979
to 1985. She served as president of St. Scholastica Academy from 1994 through
2006. She was the author of six books, including
Merton: An Enneagram Profile (1996) and
The Ground of Love and Truth: Reflections
on Thomas Merton’s Relationship with the Woman Known as “M”, published
shortly before her death. According to Sr. Patricia Crowley, prioress at the
monastery, “While she was very attuned to spiritual life, she was also in
contact with an incredible number of people both nationally and internationally.
She was a renowned speaker and presenter at workshops, a poetess and author and
was known as a spiritual director and counselor.” A memorial Mass for Sr.
Suzanne was celebrated on her birthday, July 13, at
the
Saint Scholastica Monastery Chapel.
Elbert B. Jean (1925-2014)
Elbert
B. Jean, one of the fourteen participants in the historic Peacemakers Retreat
held at the Abbey of Gethsemani in November 1964, died on June 7, 2014 in
Bowling Green, KY. Born March 18, 1925 in Smithville, AR, son of Will M. and Ina
Montgomery Jean, he was a World War II veteran who was awarded five Bronze Stars
and was twice held in prisoner-of-war camps. After the war, he received an
undergraduate degree at Hendrix College in Conway, AR and in 1951 was ordained
in the Methodist Church after completing his education at Southern Methodist
University in Dallas. He served in various pastorates in Texas and Arkansas,
including St. Luke’s Church in Little Rock, where he gained national attention
for his support of the integration of the city’s Central High School. He
remained a staunch advocate of racial justice throughout his life. He later
moved to Nashville, TN to work with maverick Baptist preacher Will D. Campbell,
first at the National Council of Churches’ “Southern Project” and later at the
Committee of Southern Churchmen, while serving as pastor at Seay-Hubbard African
Methodist Episcopal Church. Leaving the formal ministry, he turned his attention
to the War on Poverty and served from 1964 to 1968 as the first Director of the
Tennessee Office of Economic Opportunity during President Lyndon Johnson’s
administration, and subsequently as the Director of the Tennessee Rural
Concentrated Employment Program. In 1977 he returned to Arkansas to serve as the
Field Director of the First Congressional District in Jonesboro for Congressman
Bill Alexander, becoming an early champion of alternative fuels as a way of
protecting the earth. In 1990 he moved to Bowling Green, KY, where he lived for
the remainder of his life. He is profiled along with the other participants in
Gordon Oyer’s recent book on the Gethsemani retreat,
Pursuing
the Spiritual Roots of Protest
(2014). He is survived
by his wife, Joy Jenkins Jean, four children, seven
grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Ned
O’Gorman (1929-2014)
Edward Charles (Ned) O’Gorman, award-winning
poet and educator and correspondent of Thomas Merton,
died March 7, 2014 at the age of 84. He was born
September 26, 1929 in New York City, son of Samuel
O’Gorman and Annette de Bouthillier-Chavigny, and
grew up in Connecticut and Vermont in a wealthy family. He graduated from St.
Michael’s College in Colchester, VT and received a master’s degree from Columbia
University, where he was mentored by
Mark Van Doren, who encouraged his composition of poetry. He published six
highly regarded books of verse, including The Night of the Hammer, which
was
awarded the Lamont Poetry Prize in 1958, and received
two Guggenheim fellowships. He was active with the Catholic Worker movement and
in 1966 opened a
school in Harlem, The Children’s Storefront, which
began as a children’s library, grew into a preschool,
and by 1981 became an elementary school providing
fully accredited, tuition-free education for poor children from pre-kindergarten
through eighth grade, with a program that included French and Chinese lessons,
classical music and Shakespeare along with more traditional subjects. He was
literary editor for
Jubilee
magazine, founded by Merton’s friend and
godfather Edward Rice, and later edited a collection
of essays entitled Prophetic Voices: Ideas and Words
on Revolution
(1969), for which Merton wrote “Seven Words for Ned O’Gorman,” published in part
in that
volume and in its entirety in Merton’s posthumous
Love and Living.
Fara
Impastato, OP (1920-2014)
Sr. Fara Impastato, OP, a valued
member of the Columbus, OH Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society,
died May 8, 2014 at the Mohun Health Care Center in Columbus. Born August 29,
1920, the daughter of James and Cecilia Asher Impastato, she was a native and
nearly lifelong New Orleanian. She joined the Eucharistic Missionaries of St.
Dominic, professing her vows on May 19, 1941, and graduated from Loyola
University, New Orleans with a BA in history and received a Ph.D. in philosophy
of religion in 1952 from St. Mary’s School of Theology, South Bend, IN. For
nearly a quarter-century she taught in the Religious Studies Department at
Loyola and later served as associate vicar of religious for the Archdiocese of
New Orleans. After Hurricane Katrina she moved first to St. Catharine, KY, then
to Columbus, as her congregation reconfigured as the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
She was called by ITMS chapter coordinator Tom Corroto “one of the matriarchs of
the Merton Study Group.”
Merton Communications Conference
The second annual Philosophy of Communication Pre-Conference of the Pennsylvania
Communication Association was held September 25-26, 2014 at Duquesne University,
Pittsburgh, PA, with the theme:
“Thomas Merton and Philosophy of Communication:
A Centennial Celebration of His Work.” The keynote presentation by Patrick F.
O’Connell was entitled: “From
Communication to Communion: Thomas Merton on
the Use and Abuse, the Functions and Possibilities of
Language.” Other presentations included: Ronald C.
Arnett, “Thomas Merton: Communicative Reflections on the Precariat”; Chelsea R.
Binnie, “Philosophy
of Communication and Contemplation from West to
East: Arendtian and Mertonian Perspectives”; Johan
Bodaski, “Thomas Merton’s Creative Silence”; Hannah
Cherico, “Thomas Merton and an Ethic of Silence: Attending to the Other through
the Construction
of Silence in the Classroom”; Linda Coleman, “No
Man Is an Island”;
Jonathan R. Crist, CO, “Contemplating
Paradox: Contemplation as Communicative
Response in the Life and Works of Thomas Merton”;
David DeIuliis, “Thomas Merton’s Engagement with
Marxism”; Janie Harden Fritz, “Integrating The Seven
Storey Mountain
into an Honors Class on Intercultural, Interpersonal and Interreligious
Dialogue”; Jen Jones,
“Merton’s Existential Communication: The Meaning
and Power of Love”; Aaron K. Kerr, “Borgmann on Merton: Exploring the
Possibility of Contemplation
in a Technological Age through a Diachronic Examination of Philosophical and
Prophetic Speech”;
Rachel Kosko, “Thomas Merton Engages Natural
Law”; Jenna M. Lo Castro, “The Veil of Freedom: A
Mertonian Perspective of Understanding Today’s (Just)
War”; Joe Marren, “Using a Mertonian Perspective to Formulate an Ethical Code
for Journalists”; Margaret
M. Mullan, “The Presence of the Other Is a Call for
Communion: Merton’s Interreligious Dialogue”; Ozum Ucok-Sayrak, “A Sense of
Space and Community in the Communication Classroom.”
Scholars Retreat at Gethsemani
On May 23-25, 2014 the biennial ITMS Presenters and Daggy Scholars Retreat was
held at the Abbey of Gethsemani, with the theme based on that of the ITMS
Thirteenth General Meeting, “Living Together with
Wisdom: Merton’s Call to Transform Our Hearts and
Lives.” Eighteen presenters and two Daggy Scholars participated in the retreat,
which included opportunities
to attend the monastic Eucharist and liturgy of the hours, as well as to share
details of research interests
and projects and the impact of Merton on personal as
well as professional lives. Included in the itinerary was a visit to Merton’s
hermitage, where Br. Paul Quenon
read passages from Merton’s writings, particularly the collection of early
Cistercian biographies entitled
In
the Valley of Wormwood
and the still unpublished
novitiate conferences on the liturgical year. The
weekend also featured a poetry reading on Saturday
evening in the Skakel Chapel of the abbey, as well as
time
for silent reflection and informal prayer.
Call
for Papers for CEA
The International Thomas Merton Society will
once again sponsor panels and presentations at the
College English Association annual convention, to be held in Indianapolis, IN,
March 26–28, 2015. The
conference is a gathering of 500-600 scholar-teachers
committed to literature, writing, college teaching and related fields. This
year’s general theme is “Imaginations,”
and one or more Merton panels are planned,
along with possible individual presentations at other
concurrent sessions. An allied organization of the
CEA, the ITMS will provide limited financial support to defray expenses for
panel participants. Possible topics include: Merton the imaginative writer/monk;
Merton imagining the future; Merton imagining peace; Imagining Merton in
dialogue with various
cultural and literary figures. Proposals of 200-250 words for a 6-8 page paper
(15-minute presentation time) are due by November 1, 2014. Participants must
be members of the CEA ($40/year) by January 2015. Those interested in speaking
at the convention are
encouraged to contact Monica Weis, SSJ, coordinator
of the CEA Merton sessions, at [email protected]
for further information on submitting a proposal and on CEA membership;
additional information is available
in the full Call for Papers at the CEA web site:
http://www.cea-web.org.
Catholic Press Association Recognitions
At its annual Catholic Media Conference, held
June 18-20 in Charlotte, NC, the Catholic Press Association
announced the following awards to Merton Society members: first place for
soft-cover spirituality
books to
Atchison Blue by Chicago chapter member
Judith Valente (Ave Maria Press); second place in the same category to The
Art of Pausing by Judith
Valente, Br. Paul Quenon, OCSO and Michael Bever (ACTA Publications); third
place for books on social
teaching:
Hope Sings, So Beautiful by Christopher
Pramuk (Liturgical Press).
Merton Commemorative Issue
The Nov.-Dec. 2014/Jan. 2015 issue of Weavings,
with the theme “Monastery without Walls,” will commemorate
the one hundredth anniversary of the birth
of Thomas Merton with articles by Paul R. Dekar, E.
Glenn Hinson, Jonathan Montaldo and Paul Quenon,
OCSO. Weavings is offering ITMS members a discounted 1-year subscription
rate of $18.00 (4 issues)
– 50% off the cover price; this is a phone-order only
discount: to subscribe, call 800-972-0433 and ask
for subscription special #N4JS01; orders should be
placed by November 15 to receive the special issue.
Centenary Logo Decal Available
A Thomas Merton Centenary Logo Decal, using the
design created by Donna Kristoff, OSU, is available
free of charge to ITMS members from the Thomas
Merton Center at Bellarmine University. Copies
of the decal have already been mailed to all ITMS
chapters for distribution to members, but any other ITMS members who would like
to receive a copy
should contact Merton Center Director Paul Pearson
at [email protected]
to request a decal;
requests should include name and mailing address.
Peacemakers Web Site Begun
Gordon Oyer has set up a web site to continue
the conversation on topics raised by his recent book
Pursuing the Spiritual Roots of Protest: Merton,
Berrigan, Yoder, and Muste at the Gethsemani Abbey
Peacemakers Retreat.
The site can be accessed
at
http://gordonoyer.weebly.com
Merton Poems on Music CD
The CD album entitled
Is Exotic Bait (Frenchkiss
Records, 2014) by the group French Style Furs (Nathan
Willett and Matt Maust of Cold War Kids and
Nathan Warketin of We Barbarians) consists entirely
of settings of poems by Thomas Merton, including
“3 Friends,” “All the Way Down,” “(World in My) Bloodstream,” “Solitary Life,”
“Miami U R About
2 B Surprised,” “Ambassadors of General Electric,”
“Turn or Burn,” “Man the Master,” “Christmas Card,” “Clairvaux Prison.” A music
video of “Turn or Burn”
has also been produced. For further information see
www.FrenchStyleFurs.com.
Lax
Celebrations
On April 6, 2014, a program of poetry, dance and
music entitled “The Contemplative World of Robert
Lax” was held at the Santa Sabina Center, San
Rafael, CA featuring S. T. Georgiou (spoken word),
Jacqueline Chew (pianist) and Jacqueline Corl-Seidel,
Juliet Montagnon and Christine Bachich (dancers). On April 30, a program
entitled “A Path of Light in
the Darkness: Celebrating Robert Lax through Word
and Music” took place at the Chapel of Saint Francis, Franciscan School of
Theology, Berkeley, CA, with
S. T. Georgiou and Esteban Myers (spoken word) and
Jacqueline Chew (pianist). These events were presented
as part of “National Poetry Month” and were initiated
as part of S. T. Georgiou’s yearly class on Lax at the
Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
Merton Happenings
On April 1, 2014, Jim Forest gave a presentation
entitled “The Friendship and Correspondence between
Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton” at St. Francis
College, Brooklyn Heights, NY. On April 2-3, he
gave a series of three presentations at St. Joseph’s
College, Patchogue, NY: “Why Each of Us Is Called to be a Peacemaker”; “Thomas
Merton’s Advice to
Peacemakers”; and “Who Was Thomas Merton and
Why He Still Matters.”
* * * * * * *
On April 26, soprano Sherri Phelps and pianist
Rachel Taylor performed the Niles-Merton Song Cycle
at the Loretto Motherhouse Church, Nerinx, KY.
* * * * * * *
On May 4, Jan Sheridan gave an audio-visual presentation entitled “Thomas
Merton: The New York
Years,” featuring her photographs of locations mentioned
in Merton’s writings on his pre-monastic years,
at St. Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, Schenectady, NY.
* * * * * * *
On May 24, John Tallon led a retreat at Glastonbury
Abbey, Hingham, MA entitled “Contemplation:
Prayer of the Heart – A Day of Contemplative Prayer
as Taught by Thomas Merton.”
* * * * * * *
On June 23, the Chapter House at Southwell Minster,
Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK hosted a reception
marking the publication of the new book
Divine
Discontent: The Prophetic Voice of Thomas Merton
by John Moses. On June 25, a reception featuring a
presentation by Archbishop Rowan Williams, who
wrote the foreword for the book, took place at St.
James Church, Piccadilly, London.
* * * * * * *
On July 10-12, Christopher Pramuk led a retreat/course entitled “Wisdom-Sophia
in the Life and Theology
of Thomas Merton” at the Vancouver School
of Theology, Vancouver, BC, Canada, co-sponsored
by the Thomas Merton Society of Canada. The event began with a public lecture on
July 10 entitled “Thomas Merton: Breakthrough to Wisdom and Peace.”
* * * * * * *
On July 21-23, Fr. Patrick W. Collins presented
a program entitled “Thomas Merton, Man, Monk,
Myth and Music” at Bethany Spring, the retreat house located in New Haven,
Kentucky, one mile from the
Abbey of Gethsemani.
* * * * * * *
On July 16, Inscape Ministries presented a play
entitled “Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day: Pilgrims
and Prophets of Peace,” with David Hoover and Sharon Halsey-Hoover, at Holy
Family Church, Albuquerque,
NM, sponsored by the Trinity Catholic Worker House.
* * * * * * *
On August 21-23, Jim Kettering directed a “Bridges
to Contemplative Living” retreat at Bethany Springs,
New Haven, KY, followed by a retreat on August 23-24
on “The Asian Journey of Thomas Merton.”
* * * * * * *
Edward Dufresne and Mary Ann Taylor are presenting
a six-week course on “The Life and Spirituality
of Thomas Merton,” focusing on Merton’s The
Sign of Jonas,
on Tuesdays between September 30
and November 4, held on alternate weeks at Trinity Episcopal Church, Castine, ME
and St. Margaret’s Church, Belfast, ME.
* * * * * * *
From September 9 through November 11, St. Edmond’s Church,
Rehoboth Beach, DE is offering a
10-week series entitled “Sharing Merton,” facilitated
by Toni Worsham, using readings from
Thomas Merton:
Essential Writings, edited by Christine Bochen.
For further information contact Toni Worsham at 302-226-1321.
* * * * * * *
On October 1, Bob Grip gave a presentation on
Thomas Merton entitled “The Rebel Monk” as part of
the “Pub Theology: Embracing the Faith in PUBlic”
series sponsored by St. Lawrence Catholic Parish at
McSharry’s Irish Pub in Fairhope, AL.
* * * * * * *
On October 2, Christine Bochen gave a presentation
entitled “Envisioning What It Means to be Church
with Thomas Merton” at the Spiritual Renewal Center,
Syracuse, NY.
Upcoming Events
On October 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2014, the Bellarmine
University Continuing Education Office will sponsor
a course entitled “Spiritual and Ecological Insight
from Thomas Merton and Rachel Carson,” taught
by Vanessa Hurst. For further information contact
Martha Strobel: 502-272-8166; email:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On October 14, Monica Weis, SSJ will present a
lecture entitled “Finding the Sky within You” at the
Loyola Center in Goiania, Brazil.
* * * * * * *
On October 19-24, the Fall, 2014 “Week with Thomas
Merton” Road Scholar [elderhostel] program will
take place at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY.
The Spring 2015 Merton Road Scholar program is
scheduled for March 15-20 and the Fall program for
October 18-23. For further information contact Linda
Bailey: 502-272-8161; email:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
Upcoming programs at Bethany Spring, the retreat
house located in New Haven, KY, one mile from the
Abbey of Gethsemani, include: “Bridges to Contemplative
Living” on October 22-24 with Jim Kettering,
followed by “The Asian Journey of Thomas
Merton” on October 25-26; “Building Contemplative
Relationships” with Vanessa Hurst on November 7-9;
“Thomas Merton: Man, Monk, Myth and Music” with Fr. Patrick Collins on December
7-10. For further
information, contact Rick Furman at 502-507-8576;
email: [email protected] or
rick@bethanyspring.
org; website:
http://www.bethanyspring.org.
* * * * * * *
On October 23, Michael W. Higgins will give a
presentation entitled “Merton and Nouwen: Architects
of Twentieth-Century Spiritual Wisdom” at the
Catholic Information Center, Grand Rapids, MI. For
further information call 616-459-7267.
* * * * * * *
On October 31-November 2, a retreat on Thomas
Merton and Teilhard de Chardin will be held at the
Prairiewoods Ecospirituality Retreat Center, Hiawatha, IA; for further
information call 319-395-6700; website:
www.prairiewoods.org.
* * * * * * *
On November 7, David Belcastro will give a presentation on Thomas Merton at the
Catholic Men’s
Club “First Friday” luncheon at St. Patrick’s Church in Columbus, OH.
* * * * * * *
On November 14-16, Robert Kaizen Kaku Gunn
will lead a retreat entitled “Spirit of Merton, Spirit of
Zen” at the Wisdom House Retreat and Conference
Center, Litchfield, CT; for further information, call
860-567-3163; email:
[email protected];
website: www.wisdomhouse.org.
* * * * * * *
On November 16, Robert Ellsberg will give a presentation
on “Thomas Merton & the Catholic Worker
Tradition: Twenty-first-Century Practices of Compassion
and Works of Mercy” at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY, presented in
partnership with Interfaith
Paths to Peace and Compassionate Louisville;
the following day will feature topical workshops
with local social service agency leaders, justice and
peace organizations, Metro-government personnel
and representatives from religious communities and
non-governmental organizations.
* * * * * * *
On November 29, a program on “Merton & Advent”
will be held at The Milner Hall, Winchester, UK,
sponsored by the Thomas Merton Society of Great
Britain and Ireland.
* * * * * * *
On January 30-February 1, 2015, a Merton conference
will be held at the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach,
Germany, featuring presentations by
Otto Betler, OSB, Detlev Cuntz, Jim Forest, Anselm
Grün, OSB, Gary Hall, Iris Mandl-Schmidt, Michaela
Pfeiffer, OCist, Martin Tamcke, Kosmas Lars Thielmann, OCist and Thomas Wagner;
the conference is coordinated by Detlev Cuntz and Wunibald Müller.
For further information contact Detlev Cuntz:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On January 31, 2015, A Day of Celebration will be held in London to
mark the centenary of the birth of
Thomas Merton. It will begin with a service celebrating his life at Notre Dame
de France, the French Church by Leicester Square, followed by a stand-up buffet
lunch; in the afternoon there will be a talk and a panel discussion at St. James
Church, Piccadilly, followed by a birthday tea party.
* * * * * * *
On February 25, 2015, the Thomas Merton Center at
Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY will sponsor the Ninth Annual Thomas
Merton Black History Month Lecture, presented by Alex Mikulich, co-author with
Laurie Cassidy and Margaret Pfeil of
The Scandal
of White Complicity in U.S. Hyper-incarceration: A Nonviolent Spirituality of
White Resistance
(Palgrave
MacMillan, 2013).
* * * * * * *
On March 13-14, 2015, the Thomas Merton Center
at Bellarmine University, Louisville, KY and the
Carmelite Monastery of Mary Immaculate and St. Joseph in Louisville is
sponsoring a program entitled
“Thomas Merton and the Spanish Mystics” to celebrate
the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila and the
one-hundredth anniversary
of
the birth of Thomas Merton.
* * * * * * *
From
July 26th - August 1st, 2015, Bonnie Thurston will present a week-long seminar
on "Thomas Merton: Pioneer of Interfaith Dialogue" at Ring Lake Ranch, Dubois,
WY. For more information, please visit
www.ringlake.org or call 888.458.5253
Chapter and Affiliate News
On April 27, the Chicago chapter of the ITMS featured
a presentation by Judith Sutera, OSB on her
forthcoming book,
The Vinedresser’s Notebook, reflections on how the work of tending the
grapevines at St.
Scholastica’s Monastery in Atchison, KS has taught
her lessons about life. On September 21, the chapter
celebrated a memorial for Sr. Suzanne Zuercher, OSB,
featuring a talk by Greg Pierce, editor of ACTA Publications
which issued her final book,
The Ground of Love
and Truth: The Relationship between Thomas Merton
and the Woman Known as “M”. On October 19, June
Sawyers will give a presentation entitled “Days and
Nights on Iona: Celtic Contemplation, ‘Thin Places’
and Thomas Merton.” For more information, contact
chapter coordinator Mike Brennan at 773-685-4736;
email: [email protected].
* * * * * * *
On April 22, the Cleveland Chapter of the ITMS
heard a presentation by Beverly Anne LoGrasso,
OSU entitled “Thomas Merton and Pope John XXIII
– Co-Conspirators for Peace.” On May 20, chapter
coordinator Donna Kristoff, OSU facilitated a discussion on Thomas Merton’s
dialogue with Judaism. At its September 17 meeting, the group viewed a video
featuring Merton’s Kentucky friends and discussed the
importance of friendship in Merton’s life. For further
information contact Donna Kristoff, OSU at 440-449-
1200, ext. 314; email:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On June 16, the Columbus, OH Chapter of the ITMS
continued its discussion of Thomas Merton’s No Man
Is an Island
at the Martin de Porres Center. At its
September 15 meeting, the group began discussion
of Love and Living. For further information contact
Tom Corroto at:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On September 17, the Corpus Christi Chapter (NYC)
of the International Thomas Merton Society sponsored
a presentation by James Martin, SJ entitled
“Thomas Merton Changed My Life” at Lerner Hall
of Columbia University, New York City, part of the season-long program of the
chapter on “Bearing Witness: Thomas Merton, Contemplation & Action.” For further
information see the chapter website:
www.corpus-christi-nyc.org/MertonSociety.htm, or contact
chapter coordinator Brenda Fitch Fairaday: 212-865-7261; email:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On September 28 the Northern California Chapter
of the ITMS met at the St. Francis Parish Center in
Sacramento to discuss Thomas Merton’s No Man Is an
Island.
Future meetings are scheduled for November 30, January 25 and March 29. For
further information contact chapter coordinator John Berger: phone:
916-482-6976; email: [email protected].
* * * * * * *
On April 28, the Merton Interfaith Chapter of
Delaware sponsored a presentation by Toni Worsham entitled “Thomas Merton: More
than Seven Stories” at St. Edmond’s Church, Rohoboth Beach. On May 29, the
chapter discussed “Climate Change: We’re in
This Together – Our Moral Responsibility & What
We Can Do” at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Lewes,
DE. On June 28, the group heard a presentation
by Kathleen Deignan, CND entitled “Love for the Paradise Mystery: Thomas Merton,
Contemplative Ecologist” at Epworth on the Ocean, Rehoboth Beach. The group has
also begun a practicum of contemplative silence and interfaith dialogue in a
small group setting under the direction of Rev. Keith Goheen. For further
information contact chapter coordinator
George Beckerman at
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On April 16, the Wall, NJ Chapter of the ITMS discussed the first half of John
Howard Griffin’s The
Hermitage Journals
which he kept while working on his biography of Merton; the group finished its
discussion of the book at its May 14 meeting, and on June 11 discussed Merton’s
booklet Praying the
Psalms.
On October 15 and November 12, the group will discuss The Springs of
Contemplation. For further information contact chapter coordinator Greg
Ryan:
732-681-6238; email: [email protected].
* * * * * * *
On November 8 the Washington, DC Chapter of
the ITMS will sponsor a presentation by Paul M.
Pearson at St. Anselm’s Abbey entitled “‘I love beer,
and, by that very fact, the world’ – The Humor and
Humanity of Thomas Merton.” For further information,
contact: Maryle Ashley:
[email protected]; or Betsy O’Brien:
[email protected].
* * * * * * *
On April 11-12, the Thomas Merton Society of
Canada’s Consonantia series featured a presentation
by Jeannette Stigger on “Praying with Icons” on Friday
evening followed on Saturday by two workshops:
on “Audio Divina” with Susan DuMoulin and “The Practice of Silence” with
Kathi Bentall, held at St. Andrew’s United Church, N. Vancouver, BC. On May 9,
the chapter sponsored a presentation entitled “The Holy in the Ordinary: Celtic
Christian Spirituality”
with Lynne McNaughton; on May 10, workshops on
contemplative photography with Joanne Duma and centering prayer with Kathleen
Symons were offered.
On September 27, the Consonantia program featured workshops on “Mandela Fusion”
with Julie Lees and “Spiritual Autobiography” with Ray McGinnis. For
further information see the society website at
www.merton.ca or contact Susan Cowan, TMSC Community
Relations Director, at [email protected] or
604-988-8835.
* * * * * * *
The Merton Fellowship for Peace & Contemplative
Living (Ireland) sponsored a retreat focused on Thomas
Merton’s teaching on nonviolence on March 1, 2014 at Drumalis Retreat Centre,
Larne, Co. Antrim. On May 3, a retreat entitled “Learning from the Monastic
Experience” was held at Bethlehem Abbey, Portglenone, Co. Antrim, led by Scott
Peddie and Columba O’Neill, OCSO. On August 23, the Fellowship cosponsored a
one-day workshop with the Viktor Frankl Institute of Ireland entitled “Meaning
with Merton,” at the Avila
Carmelite Centre, Donnybrook, Dublin, facilitated by Scott Peddie, coordinator
of the Fellowship, and Frankl Institute Director Stephen J. Costello. For
further information on the Fellowship and its activities, contact Scott Peddie
at [email protected].
* * * * * * *
The Brazilian Sociedade dos Amigos Fraternos de
Thomas Merton (Society of Friends of Thomas Merton)
is sponsoring a retreat on October 10-12, 2014 in Rio
de Janeiro led by Abbot Bernardo Bonowitz, OCSO of
the Monastery of Campo do Tenente, PR, Brazil. On
January 31, 2015, a pontifical Mass will be celebrated at the Săo Bento
Monastery in Săo Paulo, followed by a
lecture by Dom Bernardo Bonowitz; the abbey will also host an exhibition on the
life and work of Merton. An
academic conference on Merton is also being planned for 2015 at the Pontifícia
Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro. For further information contact
coordinator
M. S. Cristóvăo Júnior at
[email protected].
Send all Merton-related news to:
Pat O'Connell
Box 3219
Gannon University, Erie, PA. 16541.
Email: [email protected]
The ITMS Newsletter is also available online at:
merton.org/ITMS
|
Copyright
(c) The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine
University. All rights reserved.