Living Together With Wisdom:
Merton's Call to Transform Our Hearts and Lives
Guide to opening Sessions
Thursday, June 13 - 2.00 PM - 3.00 PM
THURSDAY, JUNE 13
2:00
PM – 3:00 PM
A1. First-Timers Orientation - Robert G. Grip
Robert G. Grip is news anchor at WALA
television in Mobile, AL. He has served as chair of the ITMS membership
committee, 12th President of the Society and Program Chair for the 2013
Conference.
This orientation session is designed for those attending
their first ITMS meeting. The session will include a brief introduction to
Thomas Merton, then consider the meeting theme and offer a preview of
meeting events and sessions. The orientation is an opportunity to meet other
first-timers.
A2. ITMS Chapters Workshop - Donna Kristoff, OSU and Brenda Fitch Fairaday
Mike Brennan serves as ITMS Coordinator of Chapters and loves medieval and Church history. He works at O’Hare Airport and lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter.
If you are interested in
discovering what ITMS chapters are doing, locating a chapter near you, or
learning how you might go about founding a chapter, attend this session.
A3. Creating a Community of Merton Scholars –
David
J. Belcastro, Patrick F. O’Connell, Paul M. Pearson, Joseph Q. Raab
David Belcastro
is Professor of Religious Studies
at Capital University in Bexley, Ohio, Co-Editor of
The Merton Annual, and
Vice-President of ITMS.
Patrick F. 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.
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.
Joseph Q. Raab
is associate professor of religious studies and
director of the Liberal Arts Studies Program at Siena Heights University in
Adrian, Michigan. He is co-Editor of
The Merton Annual.
This session will include a panel presentation regarding
the publications of The Merton
Seasonal and The Merton Annual,
the process for submitting to either journal, and opportunities to discuss
ways to support persons interested in Merton, contemplation and the social
issues of the 21st century.
a. Benjamin Bradley - "Seeing God Everywhere: The Contemplative Poetry of Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov."
Received my BA in English from
Sacred Heart University (2012) and MA in English and Medieval Studies
Certificate from The Catholic University of America (2014).
This paper will demonstrate how Thomas Merton developed
and employed a poetics rooted in poetry's relation to contemplation. It then
examines how this theory of poetics was later adapted and developed by
Denise Levertov's poetry.
b. Jason Brown - "Thomas Merton: Lover of Place, Environmental Archetype."
Jason M. Brown is a PhD student at the
University of British Columbia with the Institute for Resources, Environment
and Sustainability (IRES). He is a member of the Thomas Merton Society of
Canada, and just completed a month long monastic life retreat at the Our
Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey in Carlton, OR.
Using Thomas Merton's major writings, personal journals,
and later wilderness essays, this short scholarly presentation will discuss
Merton's broad but underappreciated nature writing on topics such as the
role of work in monastic life, technology, sacramental eco-theology, and his
sense of place at Gethsemani. This paper will situate Merton himself as an
environmental archetype similar to ecological luminaries such as Henry David
Thoreau, Aldo Leopold, John Muir and Edward Abbey .
c. Joshua Currie - "Thomas Merton and the New Evangelization."
Joshua Currie holds an MA in systematic
theology and an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and
Theology in Berkeley, Ca. He is currently applying to various Ph.D.
programs in hopes of advancing his graduate studies regarding Thomas Merton
and the lay contemplative potential.
Thomas Merton's model for the modern contemplative
journey can be understood as a suitable methodology for answering the
challenge posed to the laity within the context of the New Evangelization.
d. Phil Garrity - "Spiritual Rupture and Reconciliation: Merton's Solitude Examined through the Lens of Illness."
Phil Garrity is a Master of Divinity candidate at Boston
College exploring the intersection of psychology and spirituality in the
care of the sick .
Merton's conception of solitude transforms from an
isolating flight from a world he sees as superficial to a deeper journey
that reconnects him with society even as lives apart from it. This
transformation is explored through the lens of my own cancer experience and
an existential search for meaning.
e. Casey Holland - "Tradition and Revolution: Catholicism in the 21st Century ."
Casey Holland: B.A. Philosophy and
Religious Studies from Nazareth College, Rochester, NY. Attended the 2013
ITMS Conference as a Daggy Youth Scholar.
What role do younger generations play in sustaining the
Catholic Church in the 21st century? Examining current issues through the
letters and writings of Thomas Merton, this paper explores the task of
maintaining traditions in the face of an ever-changing world, and the
challenges that go along with doing so.
f. Michael Jerge - "Motherhood, Merton and the Wisdom of Hagia Sophia."
My name is Michael Jerge, and I am a
Senior at Xavier University from Munster, Indiana. I discovered Merton's
writings during a theology seminar at Xavier University .
Contemplation, for Merton, involves every aspect of the
body, as well as phenomenological and transcendental intuitions.
Analogously, Merton encounters Wisdom as a "real presence," a metaphysical
transubstantiation who is more than symbol and physically arises through
"all created being." Merton's recognition of motherhood's role ultimately
occurs through humanity becoming a single heavenly body itself. Drawing from
Merton's Hagia Sophia and journals, I attempt to explore how
Merton's contemplative vision and practice pinpoint the liminal spaces
between memory and observation, verismo and idealismo.
a. Hyeokil Kwon - "Narrate Yourself, Answer Your Own Question: Spiritual Identity and Spiritual Experience in Thomas Merton's Autobiography."
Hyeokil Kwon is a Presbyterian pastor
and a PhD student in Christian spirituality at the Graduate Theological
Union, Berkeley.
For Thomas Merton, to narrate his spiritual journey is a
process of finding his spiritual identity. In his autobiography, his
self-identity is expressed in various titles and radically advances in his
spiritual experiences. Merton's narration of the growth of his spiritual
identity encourages and guides people to answer their own question, "Who am
I".
b. M. Sophia Newman - "Climate Change, Apocalypse, and the Insights of Thomas Merton."
M. Sophia Newman, MPH, is a 2014 Shannon
Fellow. She was a Fulbright scholar (2012-2013), and has been published in
various academic and popular publications.
Fracking has prompted opposition from both secular and religious groups. Opponents say severe environmental threats present a growing global concern. How do the writings of Thomas Merton – who loved nature, feared apocalypse, and came into conflict with others over his political stance – inform debate and action on this issue?
c. Jaechan Anselmo Park - "Merton’s Self-Transcendence and Dialogue with Zen Buddhism: Its Contributions to Interreligious Dialogue ."
Jaechan Park OSB is from South Korea and is presently researching Thomas Merton and monastic interreligious dialogue for his Ph.D Thesis at the University of Toronto .
In his spiritual journey, Thomas Merton was influenced by Zen Buddhism. The knowledge he acquired from Zen facilitated his dialogue with other Monasticisms. Using Zen and Christian thought, primarily, Merton contributed to monastic interreligious dialogue and provided a bridge to future harmonious relationships with other religions. This paper will discuss this process.
d. Lilin Wu - "Present is a Gift: What Thomas Merton teaches us to enjoy our ordinary life?"
Lilin Wu is a PhD candidate of Peking
University writing her dissertation on Thomas Merton’s contemplation.
For Merton, at first he thought monastic life only means
prayer and contemplation but later he slowly find to be a contemplative
means to pray in every time, cleaning the washroom, cooking, helping
novices, listening the guest … Life needs be enjoyed and appreciated, which
is at last in Chuang Tzu, Merton found the soul-mate. In this line, my paper
will follow Merton's life and showing how Merton teaches us to enjoy life.