Pope Francis’ citing Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton in his speech to Congress was a red flag to the Katholic Krazies. Both Day and Merton, though they really represent the Church before Vatican II in as that the greater part of their work was done in the years prior to the Council, are icons of Contemporary Catholicism.
The Pope cited Thomas Merton for his openness to dialogue and
the reconciliation to which dialogue can lead.
Merton (1915-1968) was a convert to Catholicism while in graduate school
at Columbia University and he later entered the Trappist Abbey of Our Lady of
Gethsemane in Kentucky. Merton’s
literary background put him in a unique position in the Abbey as he was
commissioned to write several books introducing the Cistercian tradition to the
American public. Merton was also cast
into a vital role in the Abbey as Master of Novices which mean that it was his
task to oversee the instruction of the young monks in the first six or so years
of their monastic journey. During this
time he immersed himself in the monastic tradition going back before Benedict
to Cassian and the Desert Fathers. As he
explored the world of mysticism he began to notice similarities between the
ancient traditions of the Desert Fathers with spiritualties in other religious
traditions, most notably Zen Buddhism. In the last few years of his life,
Merton began writing on this subject but while his exposure to Zen (in
particular) and other Eastern traditions enriched his spiritual growth he
remained orthodox in his Catholic faith and a priest in good standing.
Merton’s contemplative journey has had a huge impact on many
people over the years. Despite the
monastic setting in which he lived, tens or even hundreds, of thousands of
Catholics and other Christians have learned from him how to practice a much
deeper life of prayer that was typical of the Catholic laity (or even most
Religious) in the those golden days of yore to which the neo-trads always
harken as an alleged “golden age” of the faith.
Meditation has become a common practice among Catholic laity and
Merton’s practical guides to a contemplative life have channeled out from his
Cistercian cloister through the Benedictines, Carmelites, Augustinians and
other apostolic communities to the laity.
Indeed through the influence of Merton, it is often more likely to find
a deep spiritual life lived by laity than by many Religious or priests and this
is a most unfortunate situation. Fellow
Cistercian Thomas Keating and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr have done much to
advance Merton’s work in providing down to earth spiritual guidance rooted in
the monastic heritage but suited to people “in the real world.”
Merton did have a final crisis in his life that was very
significant. During a hospitalization
two years before he died, he fell in love with a student Nurse. The relationship is complex and it is
uncertain whether or not and to what extent Merton was faithful to his vows. In the end, however, he did recommit himself
to the monastic life though, despite the admonition of his abbot, he never
broke contact with the nurse. Merton had
also fathered an illegitimate child in his youth before his conversion. Merton devotees seem to be able to take his
faults in their stride; those who see Merton as negative influence stress his failings.
What has set the krazies off about Merton is his commitment to
dialogue and his conviction that dialogue with those who differ from us can
enrich our own understanding of the Truth.
To those who have an absolutist view of the universe this is a very
threatening concept. They believe there
since we possess all Truth in itself we can learn nothing—ours is but to impart
the truth to others which is not dialogic but didactic. Dialogue can lead to change and change is
threatening to them.
Merton’s exploration of mysticism also gave him a passion for
social justice. His was an early voice
both for Civil Rights and against the War in Vietnam. Merton understood that a contemplative life
changes us, makes us see the world through God’s eyes, and recognize the
fundamental evil of human-caused suffering whether it be poverty, war,
discrimination, prejudice, sexism, religious hatred or other source of evil. But it was Dorothy Day that Pope Francis
cited as his model for the Church’s engagement with contemporary social issues.
Day’s life was as complex as Merton’s. Like Merton, Day was a convert to the Church
after a fairly raucous and even libertine life.
While she had always been a nominal Christian and even, for a while, a
devout Episcopalian, her twenties were caught up in a somewhat bohemian
existence. She became pregnant by one
love and terminated the pregnancy with an abortion. She became—to her surprise (she had thought
she was sterile after her abortion)—pregnant by a second lover and bore the
child. Motherhood changed her radically
and her concern for her daughter made Day bring her life more sharply into
focus. Her politics had always been
radical. From the beginning her views
were shaped by a Christian perspective on distributive justice, but in her
relative naïveté this led to strong ties to the American Communist party. She also was involved in Women’s Suffrage and
had been arrested at the White House during the Wilson Administration for
demonstrating for the right of women to vote.
Upon her conversion to Catholicism she moved away from Communism to the
principles of Distributive Justice as were being articulated at the time by Pius
XI as an alternative to both Marxism and uncontrolled market capitalism. She came under the influence of Peter Maurin,
a French immigrant well steeped in the Fathers of the Church and Catholic
Theology who articulated a clear vision for what Catholics hold to constitute a
just society. Distributive justice of
course demands an equitable distribution of wealth and this appears to
many—both then and today—as socialism.
Day was no arm-chair radical but a very hands on practioner. She and Maurin founded the Catholic Worker
movement and began publishing its newspaper, The Catholic Worker. The
movement continues today, with the Church’s blessing, but on the extreme left
of contemporary Catholicism. Day herself
has been proposed for the canonization process and has been given the title
“Servant of God” in recognition of that status.
She died in 1980.
Dorothy Day, like Merton, is a threatening figure to the krazies
because she isn’t a cookie-cutter Catholic.
Their being cited by the Pope as examples of American (and in this case
Catholic) virtues signals a real re-ordering in our moral hierarchy. No longer is righteousness limited to the
field of sexual propriety but deeper values are permitted to transcend the
superficial categories which we cathari,
perfecti, pure ones, self-righteous
have constructed to demonstrate our moral superiority. This Pope is turning things upside down and
if you don’t have a strong sense of adventure the ride is becoming
frightening.
