LIVING TOGETHER IN JOY:  

Thomas Merton’s Invitation to New Life

Saturday, November 4, 2017
Retreat Day
9:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m.

Note: preregistration is required!  Use the ticket order form below.

You have made us together, and you have made us one and many,
you have placed me here in the midst as witness, as awareness, and as joy.

 ~ Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

“I hope you and I together will secretly travel our own road to joy,” Merton wrote to thank his young friend, Grace Sisson, for a drawing she had sent him.  She had entitled it “The Road to Joy.”  Merton’s life and writings illuminate the road to joy, identifying signposts along the way and inviting us to live together in joy.

What wisdom does Merton offer us for the journey?  What does Merton have to teach us about joy?  Drawing on Merton’s life and writings, we will explore and reflect on three aspects of joy:  the joy of being human, the joy of friendship, and the joy of unity.    

Christine M. Bochen is professor of Religious Studies at Nazareth College, Rochester, NY, where she holds the William H. Shannon Chair in Catholic Studies.  A founding member and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society, she edited Courage for Truth, a volume of Merton's letters to writers, Learning to Love, the sixth volume of Merton’s letters, and Thomas Merton: Essential Writings; co-edited Cold War Letters and Thomas Merton: A Life in Letters; and with William H. Shannon and Patrick F. O’Connell co-authored The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia.  Most recently, she edited a collection of essays entitled The Way of Mercy (Orbis, 2016).

Time: 9:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Includes Lunch and Noon MASS at Corpus Christi Church, 529 West 121st Street

Note - New Location
Union Theological Seminary, Social Hall
3041 Broadway @ West 121st Street,  NYC
(just across Broadway and the corner of West 121st Street, a few yards west of Corpus Christi Church)
For directions, click here .

Cost:
$20 for Members, $35 for Non-Members, $10 for Students

Members will need to renew their annual membership for the new 2017/18 season before registering for this event.  To do so, please visit our membership page and register to renew your desired membership level. Then return here to register for this event.

Book Signing:
Dr. Bochen will be available after her talk to autograph her books.  All are available for purchase online; click on each of the book covers below to visit the publisher's page  for that book.

Interested in becoming a member? Thomas Merton NYC members are able to attend events as part of their membership. Learn more about membership.