What do you think of Thomas Merton?

[Elizabeth502]

I’m grateful for post 66 and deeply troubled by the repeated character assassinations of Thomas Merton on this thread. Spiritually, he helped, indeed saved, millions. I count myself as one of those blessed enough to encounter him during a troubled period of my life. He did not lead me away from God, but to him, to a place of greater trust and hope. Some people on this thread seem not to understand that Merton’s main value to much of the Catholic and otherwise seeking public was not of the theological category, but of the deeply prayerful, spiritual category. Merton did for me what he did for many who have read him: made it more possible to pray. I considered him an intimate spiritual director, before that term was popularized.

I don’t care what kind of theological meanderings might have been an aspect of his own personal searches. Those weren’t, and aren’t, my concern. God sent him to me and to millions of others as surely as if he had sent an angel. It wasn’t about theology. It was about personal journey with, and to, God.

I have always had a passionate interest in The Communion of Saints – both those declared so, and those not yet declared. However, I do not happen to share the affinity millions of Catholics have for 2 or 3 (declared) saints, and for some other previous religious leaders. But I would never consider denying others what has worked for them, even though those revered persons haven’t “worked” for me. (So what?)

 

[Cephas1229]

Elizabeth502
Unfortunately, those who continually play this assassination game do not “get it.” With all his shortcomings (unlike his critics who apparently never sinned) Merton has brought many, many people closer to God. These people can never take that away from him. They remind me a little of the Pharisee in Luke, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.”

 

[ChadS]

So, let me digest this “monastic censor” fairytale. In 1947, after which the “faithful” had been exposed to the WWII death camps, millions upon millions dead and injured, lives ruined, and all that after having lived through a decade of the Great Depression - these “faithful” cannot handle the truth about a “monk” who found his “calling” on Dec. 10, 1941 to get himself to Kentucky - a “monk” who had fornicated, begat, and abandoned same in England. The “faithful” couldn’t handle that? What an idiotic supposition and insult to those “faithful”. Sounds like the testimony of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men - “You want the truth, you can’t handle the truth” - after which he was arrested.

I don’t think this is the fairytale you’re making it out to be. Everything I’ve read about Merton indicates this is the case, that he wrote things about his early years in London that his superiors felt best was taken out of the book. Paul Elie, in his The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage, treats it as fact. He also seems to believe that Merton also undertook an extensive search for the woman and his child. Merton’s conclusion was that they died in the Blitz of London, but it may also be the case that they didn’t want to be found.

“…other people also made with even greater personal risk…” - do you mean the corpsmen who didn’t go to Kentucky, but instead to Normandy, Anzio, El Alamein, Malmedy etc. - is that what you consider “even greater personal risk” than Merton was subjected to (as in none, that is)? Are you serious? You seriously posit this supposed “vow” (where did he take this “vow”, by the way) as something for us to hold in high regard as he spent the war years in Kentucky? When my father was shot liberating Merton’s home - Europe - in WWII, Thomas Merton the “vowed” corpsman was nowhere to be found. Please spare us.

You also fail to mention that Merton was given an unfit for military service designation, which freed him up for life in the monastery. During his entire life he was plagued with bad teeth, many of which became infected and had to be pulled. I also think he had respiratory problems that would give him severe colds and lung infections. Later in the war many of these health issues that kept him out in the first place were relaxed, but upon further tests and exams by Army doctors he was allowed to stay and not have to serve.

How can you fault a man for not serving in the military when even the military didn’t want him?

ChadS

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Any of you Traditional Catholics Merton fans or do you avoid his writings? I read his *Seven Story Mountain *and enjoyed it because I love (auto)biographies and was fascinated to learn about the Trappist monk lifestyle. I haven’t read his spiritual books, though, because a friend recommended I avoid that “liberal.”

I’ve got two of his books "The Ascent to Truth"and “Contemplation in a World of Action”. I’ve read both of them which is more than I can say for other books I’ve got (i’ve a bad habit of buying far more books than I need).

Now to be honest I don’t know much about Merton the man in the autobiographical sense, and whilst there appears to be some speculation about a “nurse” in some other posts, I really don’t know much about him.

I do get the feeling that the “Seven Story Mountain” was his definitive work but I depend on others for correction. He was supposed to be a poet, but I haven’t read his poetry. He didn’t incorporate them into the above texts.

However the perception I got of Merton from my limited reading was twofold - one was that he wanted reform in the contemplative orders, but I also don’t think he really knew what he was after himself. He could see the problems facing a modern Western / American man entering a contemplative order, but didn’t know what the answers wre.

Secondly he seemed to struggle with the lack of American proclivity for contemplation.

In fact he seemed to have more in common with the Eastern traditions of contemplation. And the reality is that they’ve cornered the market in contemplation these days.

In fact, I sometimes toy with the idea of visiting a Buddhist outfit myself, not because I believe God is an impersonal nirvana (my experiences indicate He’s very personal, and due to the fact I had my own father appear in my bedroom the very same night he died, it is also equally obvious to me that we continue on after death as sentient, individual being), but because I think the Buddhists have something to teach us about meditation, and a deep detachment from the things of this world.

In short, Merton seemed to be struggling with the future of the contemplative orders in a “world of action” as he put it. And he didn’t really seem to have the answers. In my opinion anyway. Frustration runs through his work like the stitching in a hem.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Cephas, Thank you for your reply. I don’t understand the impulse to destroy, particularly the eagerness with which it is often pursued on CAF. As I said, there is the very, very occasional person considered holy by others but who does not impress me or move me. In those rare situations, nothing good can come by my insisting on a distinctly minority point of view, no matter how puzzled I am by that person’s appeal to a large population.

That said, I do respect minority opinions on this thread which are not vicious and do not misrepresent and do not cross the line into unfounded allegations. It’s valid to say about anyone, ‘he/she doesn’t do much for me,’ or – as has just been posted – to share reflections of a neutral, more intellectual category. (Because the title of the thread is “What do you think of T.M.?”)

Merton did not identiy himself as a theologian, so to attack him from that basis is a weak position. Nor did he describe himself as sinless. (!) If scandals had truly been published (confirmed) about him, that would be a different thing. But to attack him as a sinful human being like the rest of us, serves no purpose. All the saints were also sinners. He speaks about his faults, sins, disappointments in himself in some of his books.

I’ll close with Philippians 4:8:

• Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.*

 

[30miller]

Paul Elie … seems to believe that Merton also undertook an extensive search for the woman and his child… Merton’s conclusion was that they died in the Blitz of London, but it may also be the case that they didn’t want to be found…

Thank you - finally something offering some semblance of an actual response to the issue (instead of the endless ad hominems offered by the Mertonites). Now: did Merton travel to England in his “extensive search”? If so, how long was he there? Is it the story that the results of that “extensive search” were that the child and the mother simply disappeared WITH NO TRACE from the face of the earth? No record of death? The mother had no family to bury her or her remains? No nothing? I ask these questions because that’s what the Mertonites have offered up so far - absolutely nothing! Like these 2 human beings simply ceased to exist. And that is what we are to swallow based simply upon Mertonite “faith”.

… During his entire life he was plagued with bad teeth, many of which became infected and had to be pulled. I also think he had respiratory problems …

Wow! I wish my father had known that. He had full upper and lower plates as long as I can remember. Yet he served. And my father never did kick the smoking habit the military hooked him on in Europe during the war with the butts in with his daily rations - resulting in the respiratory and circulatory problems that ended up severely limiting and shortening his life. But of course that’s irrelevant to the issue of granting Merton his much undeserved pass, as usual.

 

[30miller]

Merton did not identiy himself as a theologian, so to attack him from that basis is a weak position.

Please cite which posts “attack” Merton “as a theologian”. Thank you.

Nor did he describe himself as sinless.

Please cite which posts claim that “Merton described himself as sinless”. Thank you.

If scandals had truly been published (confirmed) about him, that would be a different thing.

The act of “publishing” makes it a “different thing”??? Virtually all Mertonites themselves believe - to one degree or another - all of what you term “scandals”. And true Mertonites accept that these “scandals” have been sufficiently dealt with and published - on the blank pages under the chapter title “Censored by the Abbot”. That’s the party line. The Mertonites can’t now deny the “scandals” - because they are the ones that endlessly and repeatedly acknowledge their existence in the “deleted” “prohibited” chapters that suffered the fate of the Abbots scissors. AND - they were so bad, in fact, that they would “scandalize the faithful” - so goes the Mertonite party line. So, the TRUTH is immaterial - as long as it has been prevented from being “PUBLISHED”. Boy, that’s one I haven’t heard before.

 

[Elizabeth502]

^ Your last post, and the previous ones, are largely attack posts which come across as being semi-contemptuous. Perhaps it’s just your language, but they really strike me as having some rather destructive agenda. We get it: you can’t stand him. I think your opinion has been registered several times here, answering the OP’s question, “What do you think of T.M.?” Obviously you don’t think much of him. Why do you have to continue to hurt others on top of contributing to the destruction of a dead man’s reputation?

And by the way, there’s no such thing as a “Mertonite,” and making up labels, especially with a motive to marginalize or worse, is against the Terms of Service on CAF.

 

[30miller]

^ Your last post, and the previous ones, are largely attack posts which come across as being semi-contemptuous. Perhaps it’s just your language, but they really strike me as having some rather destructive agenda. We get it: you can’t stand him. I think your opinion has been registered several times here, answering the OP’s question, “What do you think of T.M.?” Obviously you don’t think much of him. Why do you have to continue to hurt others on top of contributing to the destruction of a dead man’s reputation?

And by the way, there’s no such thing as a “Mertonite,” and making up labels, especially with a motive to marginalize or worse, is against the Terms of Service on CAF.

Can’t answer the questions. Can’t back up your claims. Resort to ad hominem. Not surprising.

 

[Oneofthewomen]

^ Your last post, and the previous ones, are largely attack posts which come across as being semi-contemptuous. Perhaps it’s just your language, but they really strike me as having some rather destructive agenda. We get it: you can’t stand him. I think your opinion has been registered several times here, answering the OP’s question, “What do you think of T.M.?” Obviously you don’t think much of him. Why do you have to continue to hurt others on top of contributing to the destruction of a dead man’s reputation?

And by the way, there’s no such thing as a “Mertonite,” and making up labels, especially with a motive to marginalize or worse, is against the Terms of Service on CAF.

Elizabeth502 I agree with you 100%

30miller, with all due respect, if you don’t like Merton, fine don’t read him.
You seem to have an axe to grind not really sure why someone who has been dead for 40 years gets under your skin so bad!

I know he has helped me, and that is all that matters.

 

[Elizabeth502]

Post 128:
There is nothing in my posts that is “ad hominem.” I’m responding to your tone, not to your person – a tone that is evident in all your posts here and which has been noted not only by me.

I’m not interested in discussing anything about him except to answer the question posed on the thread, “What do you think of T.M.?” I’ve registered my opinion; you’ve registered yours. It’s not up for argument or “claims” whether or not any responder here thinks highly or doesn’t think highly of Merton. It’s a personal question, inviting a *personal *response. I don’t have to justify my response to you with any kind of defense to aggressive questioning and off-topic derailments about “evidence”? Here’s the evidence: TM has brought millions of people closer to the one true God, has saved many souls from suicide or prolonged despair, has brought wayward souls back to religion & spirituality. If a few non-Catholics among them found support for their own already non-Catholic belief system, what difference does it make?

TM didn’t even vaguely turn me or anyone I know who also liked him into a Buddhist or anything close to that. Quite the contrary. He solidified me in my Catholic faith and prayer. That’s the correct personal answer to the personal question posed by the OP. You’re not the OP. I don’t have to answer your off-topic questions.

 

[30miller]

30miller, with all due respect, if you don’t like Merton, fine don’t read him.

With all due respect, if you want to read only Mertonite-approved opinions, then don’t read or participate in this thread titled “what do you think of Thomas Merton”. Either seek out or start one yourself titled “what Mertonite-approved thoughts do you think of Thomas Merton” and you won’t have to worry about me.

not really sure why someone who has been dead for 40 years gets under your skin so bad!

My apologies. What is the time limit you wish to impose on the facts and truth regarding the topic? I must have overlooked those restrictions.

I know he has helped me, and that is all that matters.

Typical Mertonite logic - falls right in line with one of the main criticisms of Merton by Fr. Hardon - Merton’s obsession with himself. It’s the same as to say that if Bernie Madoff was kind to me - that negates all the evil and destruction he did to his investors and their lives. Nope - he was nice to me and that is all that matters.

 

[30miller]

There is nothing in my posts that is “ad hominem.” I’m responding to your tone, not to your person – a tone that is evident in all your posts here and which has been noted not only by me.

Hmmm - let’s examine your words from your post: “…attack posts…semi-contemptuous… your language … destructive agenda… you can’t stand him…you have to continue to hurt others…contributing to the destruction of a dead man’s reputation…”. Yup - no ad hominem there, right? Your “tone” interpretation is a distinction without a difference, thank you. And the fact that Mertonites “pile on” my posts as you point out is not the same as to say that they bring any truth with them - as is always obvious by their refusal to offer up any reasonable evidence whatsoever.

I’m not interested in discussing anything about him except to answer the question posed on the thread, “What do you think of T.M.?”

I’m not sure how you can post this with a straight face. Must be Mertonite logic because I absolutely am under the impression that your ad hominem against me goes far beyond the simple sharing of what a Mertonite thinks about Mr. Merton.

I don’t have to justify my response to you with any kind of defense to aggressive questioning and off-topic derailments about “evidence”?

Now here’s the heart of the matter. Mertonites simply refuse to back up their statements. They try ad hominems which I don’t accept - then simply refuse. Not surprising, I must say. (“off-topic derailments about evidence” - huh?).

Here’s the evidence: TM has brought millions of people closer to the one true God

You made the statement - so where’s what you call "evidence"of your “millions”? That statement is like Louis Farakhan’s (sp?) claiming that the “million-man march” had a million people there.

I don’t have to answer your off-topic questions.

You’re absolutely right that you don’t have to answer any of my questions - and you have succeeded in that refusal. BTW - none of my questions have been “off-topic” as you have improperly characterized them.

And by the way, there’s no such thing as a “Mertonite,” and making up labels, especially with a motive to marginalize or worse, is against the Terms of Service on CAF.

My apologies. To associate a follower with their hero’s actual name is surely uncalled for. (I’ll point this out to the Fransiscans, Dominicans, Benedictines, etc. the 1st chance I get - and apologize to them as well for the slight - BTW, who was it that “labeled them” as such with “surely the motive to marginalize or worse them”? Sorry. Another question. I can’t help myself). Of course, the mind-reading powers exhibited with the accusation “…with a motive to marginalize or worse…” are to be accepted at face value - right? (BTW - what does “…or worse…” mean, exactly? Oh, yeah - my questions are not to be answered. Sorry for asking).

 

[Elizabeth502]

Rules #3 in #6 in CAF Forum Rules:

Do not use character substitutions in proper names, such as “Amerikkkans” or “Demonrats” or “Repubicans” etc. “Mertonites”]

Do not view the discussion area as a vehicle for single-mindedly promoting an agenda.

I have not stated that Merton is my “hero.” Even if I had, your calling someone or a group of posters “Mertonites” is forbidden by TOS. That is a fabricated “group” which does not exist; thus you are mischaracterizing his supporters. (Supporters, not “hero-worshippers”).

 

[djeter]

Two things I use often from Merton:

1. 
   *]His Grappeling With What it Means to Become a Saint:
   I got this story by way of Fr. Barron who uses it in one of his books.
   
   "Therefore, another one of those times that turned out to be historical, as far as my own soul is concerned, was when Lax and I were walking down Sixth Avenue, one night in the spring. The Street was all torn up and trenched and banked high with dirt and marked out. with red lanterns where they were digging the subway, and we picked our way along the fronts of the dark little stores, going downtown to Greenwich Village. I forget what we were arguing about, but in the end Lax suddenly turned around and asked me the question:
   “What do you want to be, anyway?”
   I could not say, “I want to be Thomas Merton the well-known writer of all those book reviews in the back pages of the Times Book Review,” or “Thomas Merton the assistant instructor of Freshman English at the New Life Social Institute for Progress and Culture,” so I put the thing on the spiritual plane, where I knew it belonged and said:
   “I don’t know; I guess what I want is to be a good Catholic.”
   “What do you mean, you want to be a good Catholic?”
   The explanation I gave was lame enough, and ex pressed my confusion, and betrayed how little I had really thought about it at all.
   Lax did not accept it.
   “What you should say”– he told me — ”what you should say is that you want to be a saint.”
   A saint! The thought struck me as a little weird. I said:
   “How do you expect me to become a saint?”
   “By wanting to,” said Lax, simply.
   “I can’t be a saint,” I said, “I can’t be a saint.” And my mind darkened with a confusion of realities and unrealities: the knowledge of my own sins, and the false humility which makes men say that they cannot do the things that they must do, cannot reach the level that they must reach: the cowardice that says: “I am satisfied to save my soul, to keep out of mortal sin,” but which means, by those words: “I do not want to give up my sins and my attachments.”
   From The Seven Storey Mountain (more reading selections here)
   
   *]His Understanding of Suffering to the Non-believer
   “We went into the ward. Father was in his bed, to the left, just as you went in the door.
   And when I saw him, I knew at once there was no hope of him living much longer His face was swollen. His eyes were not clear but, above all, the tumor had raised a tremendous swelling on his forehead.
   I said: “How are you, Father?”
   He looked at me and put forth his hand, in a confused and unhappy way, and I realized that he could no longer even speak. But at the same time, you could see that he knew us, and knew what was going on, and that his mind was clear, and that he understood everything.
   But the sorrow of his great helplessness suddenly fell upon me like a mountain. I was crushed by it. The tears sprang to my eyes., Nobody said anything more.
   I hid my face in the blanket and cried. And poor father wept, too. The others stood by. It was excruciatingly sad. We were completely helpless. There was nothing anyone could do…
   What could I make of so much suffering? There was no way for me, or for anyone in the family, to get anything out of it. It was a raw wound for which there was no adequate relief. You had to take it, like an animal. We were in the condition of most of the world, the condition of men without faith in the presence of war, disease, pain, starvation, suffering, plague, bombardment, death. You just had to take it, like a dumb animal. Try to avoid it if you could. But you must eventually each the point where you can’t avoid it any more. Take it. Try to stupefy yourself, if you like, so that it won’t hurt so much. But you will always have to take some of it. And it will all devour you in the end.
   Indeed the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being that is at once the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture. This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves.”
   
   These are powerful stories and illustrate great Catholic truths. So I guess I see Merton as a great story teller. I don’t really know much about his theology nor any of the problematical statements he made in his lifetime.
   
   But these two stories have stayed with me over the years and I retell them to others. I love Merton a great deal for these gifts.
   
   dj

 

[30miller]

TM didn’t even vaguely turn me or anyone I know who also liked him into a Buddhist or anything close to that. Quite the contrary. He solidified me in my Catholic faith and prayer. That’s the correct personal answer to the personal question posed by the OP. You’re not the OP. I don’t have to answer your off-topic questions.

My apologies. I didn’t know there was a “correct” answer.

 

[tpw]

You have your axe to grind…you don’t like Merton…fne…don’t read Merton…suspicion masking as “truth” isn’t truth at all, only absent wandering…

 

[30miller]

Rules #3 in #6 in CAF Forum Rules:
Do not use character substitutions in proper names, such as “Amerikkkans” or “Demonrats” or “Repubicans” etc. “Mertonites”]

The DEROGATORY SUBSTITUTIONS (please look up what those words mean) in the above quoted CAF Rules are quite properly prohibited. Get it? - the “kkkk”'s in Amerikkkans, the “rats” in Demonrats, the “pubic” in Repubicans?
I have not and never would do that to Merton’s name. My characterization is properly analogous to exactly what I have stated - Fransiscans as the followers of St. Fransis, Dominicans as the followers of St. Dominic, etc. There is no “mischaracterizing supporters” explicit or implicit in the term Mertonite. It’s a simple, fair, and properly descriptive term for easy and clear communication - something Mertonites seem to have great difficulty with - on the sending end as well as the receiving end. I personally have no problem being called a Corapi-ite, a Mother Angelica-ite, etc. Please cease and desist the ad hominems loaded with false accusations and mind-reading intuitions. It’s obviously all that can be resorted to given that no true answers are forthcoming.

 

[djeter]

My apologies. I didn’t know there was a “correct” answer.

There isn’t. This is all opinion and I think you have a right to query others on why they think the things they do about Merton. You seem to be a little aggressive in doing it, though – which is not the style of these forums. As someone who has been banned twice for going off on those whom I view as “nitwits,” I speak with some authority here. Uncharitable and cranky, that’s me. [sigh]

I have noticed however that you think little of Merton and often cite his sins as reasons for this. For example his getting a woman pregnant. You also see his interest in Buddhism as a negative. You have also said something about his being a “media creation” as another negative. Excuse me if I’m not representing you correctly.

Do you really think that his lingering popularity and millions of devoted readers are all due to media manipulation? Media may bring one to an Erich Fromm or a Thomas Merton but if there isn’t anything there, nothing happens. Obviously they both have touched a nerve in their readers. Or are all these folks deluded? I have trouble following your point of view.

As for his sins, why do they bother you so much? He seems to have confessed them publicly and never used them to promote himself or gain notoriety (as some sinners have). Most of our sins make us all frauds and hypocrites: why should Merton be any different? Do you think everyone treats him as a Saint and he really wasn’t? That’s what I seem to get from your comments. Once again, I don’t see where your point of view is grounded.

Correct me if I’m wrong or illuminate me further on your point of view.

Thanks

dj

 

[30miller]

There isn’t. This is all opinion and I think you have a right to query others on why they think the things they do about Merton. You seem to be a little aggressive in doing it, though – which is not the style of these forums. As someone who has been banned twice for going off on those whom I view as “nitwits,” I speak with some authority here. Uncharitable and cranky, that’s me. [sigh]

A fellow straight-talker. Welcome.

I have noticed however that you think little of Merton and often cite his sins as reasons for this. For example his getting a woman pregnant.

To be more precise - I think little of what Mertonites make him out to be. I cite his deficiencies (not properly lumped together as “sins” - e.g. having his own private beautiful “hermitage” away from his brother monks I don’t consider a “sin” per se - simply one of many outward manifestations that he was not what the Mertonites make him out to be). And though fornication resulting in pregnancy may indeed be a “sin” - any associated low regard I hold the man in has more to do with his complete abandonment of his child and having his handlers payoff the woman to drop the pending lawsuits - for his “freedom” to sail to America. And apparently (and I can’t find out anything different from his followers) only looked into the wellbeing of his child when “the abbot made him do it” - something like 7+ years (perhaps more like 11) after going on the lam to the States. That’s no one I can recommend to hold in high regard.

You also see his interest in Buddhism as a negative.

Actually, I don’t recall posting anything about this - others have done that.

You have also said something about his being a “media creation” as another negative. Excuse me if I’m not representing you correctly.

That’s a fair representation and I stand by it.

Do you really think that his lingering popularity and millions of devoted readers are all due to media manipulation? Media may bring one to an Erich Fromm or a Thomas Merton but if there isn’t anything there, nothing happens. Obviously they both have touched a nerve in their readers. Or are all these folks deluded? I have trouble following your point of view.

I don’t formulate what I think about someone or something by what others think of them. And the “millions of devoted readers” falls into a characterization I don’t accept any more than I accept that there were a million men at Louis Farakhan’s Million Man March in D.C… # of books sold does not equal # of devoted readers. Look at how most books today are sold - by the Oprah-effect. Highly-hyped books “open” on the best-seller lists the first week they are sold. I’m certainly not characterizing everybody who buys books here but most of these books are bought by more what I would call “lemmings” rather than lump them all together as “devotees”. How that idea translates over to the promotions to sell Merton’s books to provide the main income to the monastery is another long discussion but the term “cash-cow” immediately comes to mind.
The Culture of Death’s current #1 politically correct philosopher/existencialist/postmodernist is still Friedrich Nietzsche - whose ideas and thoughts logically led him to the insane asylum where he spent his final decade. Neitzsche is far more widely known than Merton - so does that demand even greater regard for his wacky thoughts. I think not.
It impresses me much deeper that Mertonites can never put any proper perspective on Merton’s deficiencies - never. Just ad hominems.

As for his sins, why do they bother you so much? He seems to have confessed them publicly and never used them to promote himself or gain notoriety (as some sinners have). Most of our sins make us all frauds and hypocrites: why should Merton be any different?

I am not attracted to people who just “talk the talk”. I am far more attracted to those who “walk the walk”. Mertonites are taken in simply by his talk. OK. I accept that and look to where he walked the walk in life. And I don’t see it. Anywhere. He deserted his child and had the mother paid off. He left his home Europe just before it went to war. 7+ years of living the life in America. Then the Day of Infamy and he gets a ticket to Kentucky. Seems to have to have an abbot tell him to look in to the wellbeing of his child - no thought of his own, apparently. (If the child really had been in the bombing of London - one would think a father might have thought of looking into that on his own - and years before “the abbot made him do it”). Then his years of obsession with self in the monastery which is how Fr. Hardon properly characterizes the man. His own “hermitage”, his girlchild-friend “M” (a 50 something man won’t write her name so the monastery censors don’t know). Then off to Buddhism. Nope. I don’t see it. And the Mertonites offer nothing.

Do you think everyone treats him as a Saint and he really wasn’t? That’s what I seem to get from your comments. Once again, I don’t see where your point of view is grounded.

Your parish must not have been subjected to the Paulist RENEW 2000 program - wherein Merton was one of several presented as “modern-day saints”. I remember at the parish opening presentation - which was done by the laity. I was sitting in the back and the pastor was not far away. When Merton was presented as a Saint - I slid over to the pastor and asked if that was true as I had never heard that. He silently shook his head no - but never stood up and corrected it to all the others. You might say that I was too courteous to stand up and step on his toes by correcting it myself - so I said nothing. I don’t anymore. No, it’s not that I think that everyone treats him as a Saint - that fact has been built in to faith-renewal programs sold to most dioceses across the U.S.