Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world
Some years back, I wrote a piece for Catholic Digest on “Thomas Merton’s New York.” The story was a pilgrimage, of sorts, visiting some of the landmarks of Merton’s life that are still standing in Manhattan. In the short video below, Fr. James Martin takes us to two of those landmarks: the church were Merton [...]
Several years ago, while I was on retreat at Thomas Merton’s old monastery in Kentucky, his former secretary Br. Patrick Hart mentioned to me that some movie people were going to be dropping by for a visit. He was bemused and thought they might be wanting to discuss a movie version of “The Seven Storey [...]
Who doesn’t crave that, especially this time of year? It turns out, we not only crave it, we need it. From author Pico Iyer, in this Sunday’s New York Times: LAST year, I flew to Singapore to join the writer Malcolm Gladwell, the fashion designer Marc Ecko and the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister in addressing [...]
It was 70 years ago today — December 10, 1941 — that Thomas Merton arrived at the gatehouse of the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky (pictured above much the way it looked then). He wrote about that moment in “The Seven Storey Mountain”: “The Bardstown bus was half full, and I found [...]
And he’s written about them both, too. And now U.S. Catholic has a fascinating interview with Jim Forest, discussing Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day — two of my heroes: Few have written authoritative biographies of the 20th-century spiritual giants Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, and Thomas Merton, the celebrated Trappist monk and writer. [...]
Good question. And one that James Martin and the good people at Loyola Productions answer in this newly released (online, anyway) segment from the video “Who Cares About the Saints?” Longtime readers know I’m a big Merton fan. Take a look. (And, maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but think Merton bears an [...]
“Ash Wednesday is for people who know that it means for their soul to be logged with these icy waters: all of us are such people, if only we can realize it. There is confidence everywhere in Ash Wednesday, yet that does not mean unmixed and untroubled security. The confidence of the Christian is always [...]
Longtime readers will know that I have great affection for Thomas Merton and have spent some memorable, meaningful hours at the place he called home for half of his life, the Abbey of Gethsamani, in Kentucky. Below is a favorite shot, from several years ago: Your Humble Blogger on the front porch of Merton’s hermitage. [...]
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