THOMAS MERTON
AT CORPUS CHRISTI CHURCH
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Thomas Merton, the famous writer and Trappist monk, was a graduate student at Columbia University when he knocked on the door of Corpus Christi Rectory and requested instruction in the Catholic faith. He was baptized at the baptismal font in our church on November 16, 1938.
In 1941 he entered the Monastery of Gethsemani in Kentucky and lived the rest of his life as a Trappist monk. His writings on spirituality and peace have been very influential.
His autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain describes his spiritual journey.
Of Corpus Christi, Merton later wrote:
"The words, songs, ceremonies, signs, movements of worship are all designed to open the mind and heart of the participant to this experience of oneness in Christ. One reason why I am a Catholic, a monk and a priest today is that I first went to Mass, and kept going to Mass, in a Church where these things were realized. . . . There was nothing new or revolutionary about it; only that everything was well done, not out of aestheticism or rubrical obsessiveness, but out of love for God and His truth. It would certainly be ingratitude of me of I did not remember the atmosphere of joy, light, and at least relative openness and spontaneity that filled Corpus Christi at solemn High Mass."
(Seasons of Celebration, p. 237)
Click here for more Merton quotes about Corpus Christi.
Click here to see Thomas Merton's baptism and confirmation records at Corpus Christi.
Click here for an article in the Columbia Spectator about Merton and our present pastor.
Today there is a chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society at Corpus Christi Church. Members meet to discuss Merton's writings, hear expert speakers, and hold an annual retreat day. Click here to learn about the chapter's activities.
Click here for a sermon by Fr. Rafferty on the 10th anniversary of the Corpus Christi chapter of