SATURDAY, JUNE 15
10:30 AM – 11:45 AM               

C1.  Merton and Spiritual Geography

 a.   Kathleen M. Baker – “This Terrific Sense of Geography: Spatial Thinking in Merton’s Journals.”

 Kathleen Baker is associate professor of geography at Western Michigan University. She has published poetry in The Merton Seasonal, The Merton Journal, and Penwood Review. 

 In his journals, Merton uses spatial thinking to document both sensory and contemplative experience.  By providing a spatial framework for understanding personal transformation, Merton has the ability to clarify his own thought and touch his readers by simultaneously engaging multiple regions of the brain.

 b.   Jeffrey Cooper, CSC – “Thomas Merton’s Imaginal World: Darkness and the Lived Experience of Wisdom.”

 Jeffrey Cooper is an Assistant Professor of Theology (Christian Spirituality) at the University of Portland. His particular area of interest is late Medieval Spirituality.

 This paper will examine Thomas Merton’s “prayers in the darkness” from his Fire Watch through the lens of the concept mundus imaginalis or Imaginal World. Through this lens I will explore how Merton’s conceptualization of darkness is an articulation of Wisdom as lived experience, or a spirituality of Wisdom.

C2.  Merton and the Inner Landscape

 a. Monica Weis, SSJ – “‘With My Hair Almost on Edge’:  Le Point Vierge and the Dawn Birds.”

 Monica Weis Professor of English at Nazareth College, Rochester NY, has published in The Merton Seasonal, The Merton Annual and is the author of Thomas Merton's Gethsemani: Landscapes of Paradise (UPK, 2005) and The Environment Vision of Thomas Merton (UPK, 2011).

 This presentation explores Merton's two uses of le point vierge as recorded in his journal and in Conjectures: the first, a moment of discovering the dawn; the second, a realization of our inner nothingness that is the Ground of our Being. Le point vierge is both an event and a dwelling, an experience that Merton regards as yet another invitation from Wisdom to greater awareness.

 b.  Raymond Carr – “Merton and Barth in Dialogue on Faith and Understanding: A Hermeneutics of Freedom and Ambiguity.”

 Dr. Raymond Carr is an Assistant Professor in Theology and Ethics at Pepperdine University. His research interests are theologically ecumenical, historically sensitive, and radically inclusive.

 This paper addresses Thomas Merton’s preoccupation with extra-Catholic dialogue, analyzing his relationship to Karl Barth’s theology in Opening the Bible.  Hermeneutically, Merton proposes an aporetic theological approach that transcends the impasse of historical critical studies and appeals to the Bible fundamentally as addressing identity and living faith as the way to God.  

C3.  Merton and the Inner Light

 a. Paul R. Dekar – “Divinization in Merton.”

 Paul R. Dekar, Emeritus Professor of Evangelism, Missions, Memphis Theological Seminary, Tennessee, contributes regularly at ITMS gatherings. He wrote Thomas Merton. Twentieth-Century Wisdom for Twenty-First Century Living (Eugene, 2011).

 Merton immersed himself in writings that brought him into dialogue with the Eastern Church. The locus classicus of Orthodoxy in relation to divinization (theosis) is 2 Pet 1:4, which affirms that God has given us divine power to participate in the divine nature. For Merton, discovering this is the ultimate in human self-realization and transformation.

 b.  Robert W. Whalen – “Thomas Merton and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: ‘The Dawning of Divine Light’.”

 Robert Whalen is professor of history at Queens University of Charlotte and Visiting Professor of Church history at Union Theological Seminary – Charlotte.  

 This paper explores the intersections of Thomas Merton’s and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s thought, focusing especially on the ways in which “enlightenment,” suggested by Merton’s phrase, the “dawning of divine light,” serves as a central trope for spiritual wisdom in the work of both Merton and Teilhard.

C4.  Workshop A

 Mary McDonald – “Attending to the Quiet Gifts of Monastic Artists.”

 Mary McDonald, Ph.D., directs the Writing Center at Cleveland State University and has written It Draws Me:  The Art of Contemplation. (Liguori Publications, 2012.)

Come examine beautiful 14^th century Russian icons, Song Dynasty paintings, and selected quotes from Thomas Merton in an effort to learn to pray faster and to gain the connections, the healing, the insight, and the protection that monastic artists in these well-researched contemplative traditions sought to offer us.

C5.  Workshop B

 Mark Filut, OCSO – “Merton Light.”

 After seventeen years with the Maryknoll Order, eleven of those spent in Peru, Mark Filut has spent the last forty years as a Trappist monk at Guadalupe in Lafayette, Oregon.

 A look at the value of humor within spirituality, especially in the life and work of Thomas Merton. His writings, talks and correspondence provide insight, inspirtation and a lighter side we can all enjoy.

C6.  Guided Prayer

Timothy S. St. Onge – “Sophia’s Silent Cry.”

Timothy S. St. Onge, Ph.D., is husband, father, educator, and counselor. He is currently President-elect of the United Institute for Contemplative Living and hosts Christian-Zen gatherings at his home zendo.

The text of Merton’s Hagia Sophia, a hymn of peace celebrating the mercy of God in and toward creation; images and sounds of melting glaciers on five continents by Canadian artist, Jan Kabatoff; silence and contemplative observation supported by our breath are the elements of this prayer.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15
1:30  – 2:45 PM         

D1.  Merton and Poetry

 a. Patrick F. O’Connell – “‘The First Cistercian and the Greatest Trappist’:  Thomas Merton’s Poems on John the Baptist.”

Patrick O’Connell, ITMS founding member and former president, is editor of The Merton Seasonal, coauthor of The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, and editor of six volumes of Merton’s monastic conferences.

 Merton’s fascination with John the Baptist is evident in three early poems: “St. John Baptist,” “St. John’s Night,” and “The Quickening of St. John the Baptist.” The sequence moves from a consideration of his ministry to a commemoration of his birth to his witness in the womb. This presentation explores how each poem presents John as a model for the contemplative and as an exemplar of wisdom.  

 As Robert Waldron argues in Thomas Merton: Master of Attention, Merton “found Christ through aesthetics.” Although many critics analyze Merton’s poetry thematically, an aesthetic exploration of Merton’s poem, “For My Brother: Reported Missing in Action, 1943,” explicates the relationship between Merton’s suffering and the material reality of his language.

D2.  Merton and Spiritual Masters

 a. Christopher Kelly – “Merton and Cassian – Monastic Wisdom.”

Christopher Kelly is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT. His areas of interest include Christian monasticism and historical theology.

 This paper focuses on Merton’s lectures on Cassian while he was novice master at Gethsemani.  The intent is to articulate points of confluence corresponding to each monk’s goal of transmitting wisdom, rather than mere practical information, and to investigate how one teacher makes use of another to transmit monastic Sophia.

 b. Joseph Parisi, OCDS – “Merton, John of the Cross and Infused Wisdom.”

 Joseph Parisi has taught classes covering spiritual works of John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and Augustine with a focus on Carmelite mysticism.

 Merton brings a psychological context to Juanist doctrines of spiritual detachment, poverty, the death of the exterior self and realization of truth. Aspects of purification of motivation and desire, explored by both Merton and John define for us the path followed by both spiritual travelers culminating in contemplative wisdom. 

D3.  Merton and Young Adults

a. Laura Geary Dunson – “Encouraging the Crisis: Merton’s Identity Ideas for the Emerging Adult.”

Laura Geary Dunson is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, who studied psychology and religion, and worked in campus mental health advocacy organizations. She hopes to pursue a counseling license and work with older adolescents.

 Thomas Merton’s struggle with identity models a transformative process in life similar to the developmental stage known as “emerging adulthood.” Utilizing Erik Erikson and contemporary theorists, this paper emphasizes the importance of an identity crisis for those exploring their selves, discussed practically and from the perspective of an emerging adult.

 There is common ground within the experiences of Thomas Merton and contemporary youth. Anomie, alienation, scepticism and the search for validated truth can be posited as the threads connecting Thomas Merton and the modern generations. What does Merton have to say to the teenagers of today?

D4.  Workshop A

 Mary Louise Heffernan, SSJ – “Merton’s Wisdom Rooted in God’s Wisdom.”

 Mary Louise Heffernan is a Sister of Saint Joseph of Rochester, NY involved in Spirituality Ministry. She holds a Masters in Ministry from Seattle University.

 Thomas Merton’s writings will be used to center us more deeply in the God of Wisdom living vibrantly within all of creation.  Weaving the wisdom of contemporary authors such as:  Raimon Pannikar, llia Delio, William H. Shannon, Christopher Pramuk, Beatrice Bruteau, and Diamud O’Muchu will enliven our inner being to the extravagant wisdom that pulses in creation, opening us to live more deeply “being wisdom” and “welcoming wisdom” into our life and our world.

D5.  Workshop B

 Nass Cannon – “Attending to the Dawn Deacon: Health as Union with God.”

 Nass is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Alabama School of Medicine and former Chief of Staff at Cooper Green Mercy Hospital.

 This workshop focuses on a concept of health which entails transformation and union with God. Health will be defined as the progressive integration of body, mind, and soul in a person seeking communion with God.  Participants will reflect on means to health and the goal of health—full union with God.

D6.  Guided Prayer

 Paul M. Pearson – “‘Wisdom” Cries the Dawn Deacon’: The Healing Power of the Night Spirit and the Dawn Air.” 

Paul M Pearson is Director and Archivist of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, resident secretary and treasurer of the ITMS and chief of research for the Merton Legacy Trust.

 This time of prayer will combine Merton’s photographs and drawings with some brief quotations from his writings to enable participants to explore prayerfully the healing power of the “night spirit and the dawn air” in our lives.

SATURDAY, JUNE 15
3:30  PM  – 4:45 PM   

E1.  Merton and Literary Friends

 Mark C. Meade is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. He has lectured in Argentina on Merton and Victoria Ocampo.

 Newly available letters between Thomas Merton and publisher, writer, and feminist Victoria Ocampo reveal her as possibly Merton’s inaugural contact with a global cadre of intellectuals after his 1958 experience in Louisville at 4^th and Walnut.  Their friendship helped Merton transcend national and cultural borders that prevent humanity from living together in peace.

Professor Michael McGregor, Director of Creative Writing at Portland State University, has authored several articles and a forthcoming biography about his friend Robert Lax.

 Brimming with Joycean puns, Rabelaisian earthiness and Chaplanesque satire, Merton’s correspondence with Robert Lax has long puzzled readers.  Merton called it “a merry jolly correspondence without topic and unintelligible to editors.”  Decoding their encoded language of shared experience, reading and wit reveals the deep spiritual support these lifelong friends gave each other.

E2.  Merton as Intellectual Critic