Merton and Me - A Living Trinity

A Retreat Day with Douglas Hertler

Postponed - New Date to be Announced.

10 am - 4.30 pm

Our Lady of the Woods Chapter, Bellarmine University

Booking Required - Details to Follow

Douglas Hertler, also known as Doug Lory, is a graduate of Monmouth University in Long Branch NJ where he received a BA in Speech/Communication/Theater.  His career has spanned virtually every facet of the acting industry, including TV, Film, & Theater, and he is a member of SAG-AFTRA and AEA, the two professional actor’s unions in the U.S.  He is on the faculty of Fordham University School of Law where he works as an actor/educator, role playing with student attorneys in both client interview simulations as well as trial law examinations, exploring the intangible components of interpersonal and group communication.  He works as a licensed tour guide in New York City, having shared with tens of thousands of visitors for almost 20 years, the exciting, inspiring, and sometimes tragic history of a city which counts the ethnic and religious diversity of the world as its citizenry.  He is a member of the International Thomas Merton Society (ITMS), the ITMS NYC Chapter, as well as a member of the American Teilhard Association.

Merton and Me - A Living Trinity, is an act of storytelling which explores the dynamics of the false self as seen through the eyes of an actor whose very vocation called him to become someone other than himself.  Written and presented by Douglas Hertler (known professionally as Doug Lory), it depicts his unexpected and life-changing encounter with the writings of Thomas Merton, most notably Merton’s classic No Man Is an Island.  While the conflicting personalities of Douglas Hertler and Doug Lory struggle to understand the true nature of their respective identities, Thomas Merton appears and reappears, creating a synergy of spirit and psyche that serves as a mirror into the soul.

Co-sponsored by: Campus Ministry, Bellarmine University and Louisville ITMS Chapter

17th Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture

Thomas Merton's Letters to a White Liberal,
In a Black Queer Key

by

Craig A. Ford, Jr.

Recorded February 21st 2023 at 7 pm

Audio Recording available at:
https://merton.org/Research/AV/TMBHM/Ford-2023.mp3

Craig A. Ford, Jr., joined the faculty at St. Norbert College in August 2019. A moral theologian, Professor Ford writes at the intersection of the Catholic moral tradition, queer theory and critical race theory, with a particular interest in reclaiming an epistemology of pleasure in the discernment of the natural law. A scholar-activist, Professor Ford is a sought-out speaker for sexuality and racial justice workshops and seminars, and his current book project seeks to articulate a new theology of sex and gender for the Roman Catholic tradition. Professor Ford enjoys working with students whose research projects engage Catholic and other Christian traditions as critical resources for continuing to reflect upon questions of gender, race, sexuality and social justice – both historically and for the future.

16th Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture

Uncovering a Hidden Wholeness:
The Essence of Unity and Thomas Merton’s Hope for the Human Race

Sophfronia Scott

Recorded February 22nd 2022.

Audio Recording available at:
https://merton.org/Research/AV/TMBHM/Scott-2022.mp3

Sophfronia Scott began her career as an award-winning magazine journalist for Time. Her first novel, All I Need to Get By, was nominated for best new author at the African American Literary Awards. She is the author of Unforgivable Love, Love’s Long Line, This Child of Faith: Raising a Spiritual Child in a Secular World, and The Seeker and the Monk: Everyday Conversations with Thomas Merton. (Broadleaf Books, 2021) She is the founding director of the MFA in Creative Writing program at Alma College in Michigan.

15th Annual Thomas Merton Black History Month Lecture
 

“Lead Me, Guide Me”:
The Gift of Black Catholics to the Universal Church 

Chris Pramuk

February 21st 2021 - 3 pm. (EST)

Free and Open to the Public

The Recording of this Lecture can be Viewed at:
https://merton.org/Events/TMBHM15.aspx

Dr. Christopher Pramuk is Regis University Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination, and an Associate Professor of Theology, where he teaches courses in theology and spirituality. He is the author of six books, including two award-winning studies of the famed Catholic monk and spiritual writer Thomas Merton, as well as Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, a meditation on race relations in society and church. Chris’s latest book, The Artist Alive: Explorations in Music, Art, and Theology, draws from his many years of using music, poetry, and the arts in the classroom. Chris lectures widely around the country and has led retreats on topics such as racial justice, Ignatian spirituality, and the witness of Thomas Merton.

Bonnie B. Thurston is a founding member, past president and former board member of the ITMS. She is an ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and formerly professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She is the editor of Merton and Buddhism (2007), Thomas Merton: On Eastern Meditation, Hidden in the Same Mystery: Thomas Merton and Loretto, and the author of numerous books on scripture and on spirituality, most recently Hidden in God: Discovering the Desert Vision of Charles de Foucauld, Practicing Silence: New and Selected Verses, A Place to Pay Attention,  O Taste and See: A Biblical Reflection of Experiencing God, and is now living in solitude in West Virginia.