On Fri, 25 Sep 2015 14:43:23 -0700, michael sylvester wrote:
Mike P asks if Merton ever talked about Margie.Well,I do
not know who Margie was
More evidence that people do not read the webpages I provide
links to. If Prof. Sylvester had read the Wikipedia entry, he
would have known who Margie was, why she was important to Merton
(she helped nurse him when he underwent surgery for his back
in 1966), and that he wrote poems to her, and she is the subject
of the essay "A Midsummer Diary for M" which is covered in
greater detail in the following book:
http://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Mask-Holiness-Thomas-Forbidden-ebook/dp/B002XFP9N8/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443232229&sr=1-2&keywords=%22A+Midsummer+Diary+for+M.%22
She also is covered in the new movie on Merton's life; see:
http://mertonmovie.com/
Oh, and the Wikipedia entry for Merton is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton
See especially footnote #1.
but I do know that Merton taught at Saint Bonaventure's before
Pax Intransibus to Gethsemani A book authored by Brother Patrick
Hart covers his pre-monastic days amd showsscribblings of nude
women made by Merton.Merton has been viewed as a Saint
Augustine for our modern times. Anyway he would not have
talked about Marge-the Trappist monks did not talk to one another.
Well, y'know, some people think hey know other people when
in fact they don't really know them at all. Kinda like Harry Potter's
eventual realization that he didn't really know Albus Dumbledore.
Merton's MY ARGUMENT WITH THE GESTAPO and CONJECTURES
OF A GUITY BYSTANDER are works that are of pdychological import.
But Mike P should be familiar with Dorothea Day who worked with
the poor at the bowery in NYC.
Actually, you should read the Wikipedia entry on her to get a better
idea of who she was; see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Day
Perhaps the most notable aspect about her after her conversion to
Catholicism (after being the "original hippie") is that she was a
pacifist
all of her life, which made things very weird for her during World War
II.
Indeed, one wonders what she thought when the newsreels of the
Nazi death camps were shown in U.S. movie houses.
She published the Catholic Worker newspapr..A
copy was only a penny.Dorothy apparently had an abortion when she was a
teen.But like St.Monica (St.Augustine's mom) Dorothy converted
to
Caholicism and was a dedicated church goer.
Again, read the Wikipedia article. Do some research. Dorothy Day
established the "Catholic Worker" in a little place close to where I
live
in a place "Mary House"; see:
http://www.manta.com/c/mtvhdtt/mary-house-the-catholic-worker
It's not on the Bowery but 3rd street between 1st and 2nd Avenue,
and just up the block from the headquarters of Hell's Angels (it's
a diverse neighborhood). Women stay in Mary House while men
stay in St Joseph's house over on 1st Street (also between 1st
and 2nd Avenue) see:
http://sideways.nyc/2012/06/the-catholic-worker-st-joseph-house/
To tell the truth, when Pope Francis mentioned Dorothy Day's name
I thought he was referring to one of the women who helped to found
the Christadora Settlement which is also in the East Village but
further east and north. The Christadora Settlement was created in
1897 by Christina MacColl and Sarah Carson and would serve as
a place for social services to the poor and needy as well as a place
for "do-gooders" to get social work experience. In 1928, money
was obtained to build a 16 story building that would house all the
services as well as provide temporary shelter. Known as the
Christadora House, it is still standing overlooking the eastern
side of Tompkins Square Park; see the Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christodora_House
Harry Hopkins started to work at Christadora house in 1912 where
he learned about dealing with poverty first hand, experience
that would come in useful when he joined President Franklin Roosevelt's
administration where he supervised the federal relief administration;
see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Hopkins
For a more detailed history of the social outreach work done at the
Christadora House (and which make Dorothy Day's work seem puny)
see the following article at the Social Welfare History Project website:
http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/settlement-houses/christodora-settlement-house/
I should have known better though because the Christadora settlement
was run by Protestants though it tried to be nondenominational.
However, Pope Francis may have had other reasons to mention Dorothy
Day's name, outside of her social outreach work. She is now defined by
the Catholic Church as a "Servant of God", which is the first step
towards
her canonization or becoming a saint. Her Wikipedia entry has a short
bit
on this where the Claretian Missionaries put forth the proposal for
canonization
which Pope John Paul II accepted and Pope Benedict apparently
viewed favorably. I think we can guess what Pope Francis' position is,
especially since now the whole world is asking who the hell was
Dorothy Day. I wonder what two miracles she is supposed to have
done. For those unfamiliar with the contemporary process of making
saints; see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonization#Roman_Catholic_procedure_since_1983
Making another American Saint might be good for the business.
Well, back to contemplation.
Remember: MU!
You could see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_%28negative%29
but I bet you won't ;-)
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
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