Your points are well taken. I hadn’t seen the Paulist RENEW 2000 program and I find the notion of Merton as Saint to be laughable, if not downright goofy. To that extent, I think I would find Merton on my side in that argument but I sense you see him too much as a self promoter to see that irony.
As for “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…” I think you are ignoring the considerable evidence of those who have been genuinely moved by Merton – as evidenced just on this forum. C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and Tom Merton seem to me to have a great deal in common although in different ways. While the first two make their appeal through apologetics, Merton’s ability to capture the essence of spirituality and his life journey seem to stand out…
In your favor is your ability to irritate those who seem to have already granted sainthood on this less than saintly man. Reminds me a bit of that opening dialogue from Lawrence of Arabia:
[Asked by reporter if he knew Lawrence]
Jackson Bentley: Yes, it was my privilege to know him and to make him known to the world. He was a poet, a scholar and a mighty warrior.
[after reporter leaves]
Jackson Bentley: *He was also the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum & Bailey. *
But “lemmings?” OUCH. Revisit your notion of fandom. Cultivate a kinder, gentler you…
A “hermitage”? I’ve never seen it referred to anything other than a shack and in the photos I’ve seen appeared to be such.
And as this shows:
“October is a fine and dangerous season in America. It is dry and cool and the land is wild with red and gold and crimson, and all the lassitudes of August have seeped out of your blood, and you are full of ambition. It is a wonderful time to begin anything at all. …”
He was a helluva writer.
dj
Thank you for your reasoned response. However - though some (not millions, as I must always point out) choose to view him as a helluva writer as you say - I liken his writing skills to Obama’s so-called speaking skills. Prominent TV talking heads proclaimed tingles down their legs after Obama’s words throwing his white grandmother under the bus on the race issue in Philadelphia during the election campaign, for example. Millions beyond that (and in this case and unlike Merton’s it actually was millions) fell for the media-creation called Obama and made him the most powerful man in the world. How’s that “CHANGE” working for them now. They elected an empty suit in terms of any character or experience whatsoever. On numerous occasions I have asked co-workers and acquaintances who voted for him to share with me their take on Obama’s what-I-call “teleprompter reading” skills after some of those “memorable” speeches after which his lemmings always had no memory. The response was always absolutely nothing. No memorable lines. No memorable theme. Nothing.
Just to take the quote you mention - (and I must tell you that I always read for content and not simply for flourish) - my absolute first thought was what’s “dangerous” about October? That’s a meaningless “observation”. So I disregard that word and am left with October is a fine season. duhhhhhhhhhh. Pretty pedestrian observation to me. My next thought was what’s the great distinction between red and crimson - if that’s supposed to be language that sweeps me away, it doesn’t. Many elementary school children could come up with a better description of the fall foliage color extravaganza than that. Finally, if there is a season when people lose their lassitudes of the previous months - and are full of ambition - that season is without a doubt Spring. I struggle to think of not just myself - but others I know starting projects in October. So, once again - duhhhhhhh.
As I said Merton writes with flourish - like Obama speaks. But they are both media creations and they are men lacking in character. I can picture Merton emptying himself of his “lassitudes” while enjoying the fall foliage change in Kentucky as his abandoned child is supposedly being bombed to smithereens in London at the same time. Doesn’t sweep me away. Did he write these words during the war years for that matter?
I personally would never lump Chesterton and C.S. Lewis together with Merton. For one among many things - he was new age while they were not.
And Merton couldn’t hold the ink bottle for Chesterton’s pen. Chesterton could toss out better lines than Merton could contemplate and massage for years. “…Dim drums throbbing, in the hills half heard, Where only on a nameless throne a crownless prince has stirred, Where risen from a doubtful seat and half-attainted stall, the last knight of Europe takes weapons from the wall, The last and lingering troubadour to whom the bird has sung…” etc. (Lepanto).
Chesterton not only would never have had his name associated with Buddhism - Chesterton didn’t even consider Buddhism a religion at all, let alone one that he would dedicate his later years on.
Your observation about Merton’s RENEW 2000 Sainthood being laughable is correct. But the damage done to the Catholic’s in the pews is not. I watched my normal hard-working fellow parishoners who knew nothing of Merton be taken in by the Paulists’ subterfuge. They didn’t know any different - nor should they. They work hard and support their families and parish - then are subjected to that. And the Paulists’ chosen pied piper - Thomas Merton. You’re right - it would be laughable if not for the lies foisted on underserving folks.
And I do think that most Mertonites are properly characterized as lemmings - “one who unthinkingly joins a mass movement” - and the key word is unthinkingly. Not all - but most. Just like Obamaites.
,) suggested that I talk to a particular priest.
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