Bellarmine University’s
Thomas Merton Center hosts two public events celebrating Thomas Merton in October -- a one-day conference and a free lecture.
Merton was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. He wrote more than 70 books, including poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism and writings on peace, justice and ecumenism. Before he died in 1968, Merton selected Bellarmine as the official repository of his artistic estate, which includes over 1,300 photographs and 900 drawings, in addition to his writing.
“These two events are wonderful ways to explore the variety and depth of Thomas Merton’s life and thought,” said Dr. Paul Pearson, director and archivist at The Thomas Merton Center. “Many readers are familiar with Merton’s writings surrounding social justice issues such as war and racism, but few will be aware of Merton’s cutting-edge thinking on ecology at the very beginning of the modern ecological movement, or of his close relationship with Dorothy Day. These programs bring to Bellarmine the acknowledged experts in these areas of Merton’s life and thought and are opportunities not to be missed.”
Free Lecture
On October 13, author James Forest will conduct a free lecture titled “Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day: A Special Friendship” in Bellarmine’s Frazier Hall at 7p.m.
James Forest became a close friend and correspondent of Thomas Merton in the early 1960s. He was managing editor of The Catholic Worker and worked closely with Dorothy Day, a journalist and activist who co-founded the Catholic Worker movement.
Forest’s many books include the Merton biography “Living with Wisdom” and “Love is the Measure: A Biography of Dorothy Day.”
This lecture celebrates the donation of a large collection of letters, photographs and other materials relating to Dorothy Day and The Catholic Worker to The Thomas Merton Center by the family of Joseph and Mary Alice Lautner Zarrella.
Ecology Conference
On October 16, The Thomas Merton Center hosts a one-day conference: “Letters to a Green Liberal: Thomas Merton’s Call to Ecological Responsibility.” This event, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bellarmine, costs $40 for students and $50 for others, with lunch included. Registration after October 11 costs $60.
Speakers at this event include:
- Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network and the spiritual leader of Congregation P’nai Or of Central Connecticut.
- Dr. Kathleen Deignan, professor of religious studies and founder of the Iona Spirituality Institute, which she directs, at Iona College in New Rochelle, N.Y.
- Dr. Dennis Patrick O’Hara, assistant professor of ethics and ecotheology and Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology at the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto.
- Dr. Monica Weis, professor of English at Nazareth College, Rochester, N.Y., and a frequent speaker on Thomas Merton and nature.
The program also includes a roundtable discussion. More information and registration forms
are available online.
About Bellarmine
Bellarmine University is an independent Catholic university offering more than 50 majors, as well as graduate degree programs, a doctor of nursing practice and a doctor of physical therapy. U.S. News & World Report and the Princeton Review consistently rank Bellarmine among America’s best institutions for higher education. The university is celebrating 60 years of academic excellence for lives of leadership and service.