News Scrapbook 1984

Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles Co.) Los Angeles Times (Cir. D. 1,072,500) (Cir. Sun . 1,358,4201 · 3 0 J

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The waJs of God are mystenous; the previously loquacious Merton would take a vow of silence. The world traveler would )Om Gethsemani monastery In rural Ken- tucky, where a monk was expected to spend a cloister existence for life. The gregari- ous Ivy Le;iguer would enter an order that di couraged close friendships. The budding novelist would JOID the Trappists, who are forbidden to read novels. The prolific writer would subllllt to the Trappist rule that mcomlng mat! was to b read by penors and could be received or sent out only on four days of the year To be sure, there was the right lo pnvacy guaranteed under the stamp "co ence matter," but that matter was often conscientiously breached The prose styli who expenmented with Espe- ranto and e macaronic genre would "pray that I may wnte Simply and straight anything I ever have to write, that no dishonor come to God through my writing about Hun.'' But Gethsemam provtded soli- tud . structure and stability. Throughout his life, Merton would debate whether e was truly hononng God or simply eg -tripping on a gra."ld scale. Greg- / • , the famed Catholic psychoan- alyst, tho ht the latter, viewing Father M. LolllS Me n (the name that Merton took upon e:,ttring the Trappist order) as a senu-psy tic quack hell-bent on megalo- mania an narCISSism, in search of a patho- logical as am mTimes Square wtth a neon SJgn ' HcrJD.It " Despite their many feuds, his abbot, Dctn James, thought the former A special ixbd existed between the Harvard educated bbot and "chop suey Lowe, mad Chi1ese poet," and erton wrote to Dom Jam (who had retired as abbot to be himself a hermit) a few weeks before hls death th "I certainly want to make sure that wh ever I do JS really for a spiritual goal, and for the good of the Church and of Monastic life." And, all along, sagacious John XXIll knew best Merton also was a ma)Or reformer of monastic life, and, by his fame, brought much needed capital to Gethsemam. Clare Boothe Luce was a benefactor, offenng the Trappists cons:tderable property in South Carolma. m appre 1ation of Merton's "Thirty Poems." Gethsemani, designed to accommo- date about 70 monks, grew in population to more tha 1250 m the 1950s. Yet Merton, the reformer and apophatic contemplative, of- fered caveats against mental quietism dis- guised a.1 anti-intellectual piety. And he grew restless with the cenobitic life and yearned lo lead the eremillc life. Paradox- ically, his initial move to be a hermit was bols ered by the rebuilding program at

1 I fotl I the appomted biographer or Thomll3 Merton (1915-1968); hlS autho- rized account, apart from some mfehclUcs of 81.yle, IS a masterful piece of work Mott was llowed direct cces to the highly restrlct- d pnvate JOUmals erton wrote between 1956-1 ,journals that will not be available for public scrutiny, nd r the terms of the Leg.i Trust, Wltil 1993. Llk anoth r Thomas, Merton was man of • ns wnt r, poct profe r, Im gw t, nviroruncntahst, cvtl-nghts and an- ti-war activist, monk, ecumenist, bon v1- Reviewoo by John Donn lly

Thomas Merton

lish a "fan club" for him. Merton, who corresponded with and entertained VIS1tors that mcluded many of the leading figures and intellectuals of this century, still found ume to write to a girl who wanted little more than a party at Gethsemanl, a Wood- stock with the likes of the Beat! , the Stones, Alan Watts and RaVJ Shankar at Merton's feet. •O ondcr n ton couJ; te l am n y' answer, not even my own." om by the bitter disputes In his rapidly ing church, this alleged hippie monk even warned against the perceived excesses or Vatican Il reform: "There is no ugher species on the face of the earth than progressed Catholics, mean, fr1vol, un- gamly, inarticulate, venol:'1 us, and bursting at the seams with progrt'S into the ecular city and the Teilhardian subways. The Ottavtarus was bad, but these are infinitely worse." By 1967, his constant battles With censor- ship were over. He traveled to Asia m 1968 and died in Bangkok while attending a monastic-ecumerucal conference. His death, like his life, also proved erugmatic. The hfe of Thomas Merton offers the lesson that samtlmess IS not a mere matter of ethico-religious inwardness, but rather a complicated process of complete self-trans- formation, aided by divme grace, that seeks to attain holiness and thereby generate certain discernible outward effects, i.e., the fruits of the Spint. The saintly person becomes an image of God, ina non-symmet- ncal manner, an image that does not confuse the unprint with the Imprimatur. As Thom- as a Kempis reminds us, m the end 1t shall not be asked of us "what good we have said, but how religiously we have lived." Donnelly is profusor of philosophy at the J Univer3-9f San Diego. /_

Gethsemani inherited an old construction tool shed as a makeshift dacha, and eventually hts permanent enmtage on Mt. Olivet m 1960. Curiously, the erexrutic M ton became quite the SOCJal actiV!St. " y Catholicism 1s all the world and all ages.'' He was a precursor of the Catholic "seamless-gar- ment" perspective. He Im ed his an- ti-abortion sentiments and r t f r · with related ~itments ag st warf , human-rights violations, pov y, etc. Cor- responding with his former stooent, Ernesto Cardenal of 1caragua, Merto wrote: "The senselessness or physical Violence IS neces- sary, perhaps, to manifest the nselessness of economic and cultural vtolence. And the basic violence of life without iGod, without silence, without prayer, witho t thought" Writing to a Sufi scholar, erton proves both recondite yet amphibologlcal: "There IS m my heart this great thirst to recognize totally the nothingness of all that is not God." And part of his struggle With God and self involved women. At times an ardent feminist. Merton perhaps never did come to terms with his claim that ',man IS most human . • by the quality of h16 relationshtp with women." Mott contends that there IS CO!ISlderable eVJdence that Merton fathered a child before entenng reli~us life, and later, at age 51, became involved with a student nurse m Louisville. Merton even proposed marriage, resorted to the theologi- cal casuistry he so abhored to assuage his guilt, and eventually broke off the relation- ship. He wrote "A Midsummer Diary" for that nurse, yet, during the courtship, Mott reports he cavorted drunkenly in the mon- astery lake with another woman visitor, realizing "how easily I am shaken and thrown off balance." Merton corresponded with a Californian, a teen-age Valley girl, who wanted tA:I estab- hen he

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San Diego, CA [San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune [Cir. D. 127,4541

~/lot's

P. C. B F.st. 1888 "'J!llrr..AfJJ1s.)lOnlrol Process" and "H~~es,an Intelligent Health Consumer" are two in a series of lec- tures to be offered at the University Cl( Sa.!!-,Diego's University"iiTche TliircfAge. The special program of lectur and physical exercise for persons over age 55 begins Jan. 7 and ends Jan. 24. An exercise class will be conducted from 8 lo 9 a.m·. Mon- day through Thursday, followed by lectures al 10 and 11:15 a.m. The fee is $50. For registration inforrnat/ion, c~60-4585.

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