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When Rev. Raymond Rafferty came to Corpus Christi Church seven years ago, he stepped into a building that hosted one of the most famous conversions in American history. This summer, Rafferty got his history lesson, using a six-week sabbatical to study the life and teachings of Thomas Merton, the Columbia-educated monk who became one of America's most famous religious leaders.

Based on Merton's ties to Corpus Christi, on W. 121^st Street, and his own longtime interest in Merton's work, Rafferty won a grant to expand upon a project of his own creation entitled "Thomas Merton and Corpus Christi Church, The Parish of His Religious Birth."

"This [sabbatical was meant] to give Merton the place he deserves as Corpus Christi celebrates another hundred years of service to the Morningside Heights community," he said.

Merton, CC '38, was a religious icon of the 20^th century who became famous for the universal appeal of his writings, which address issues of social justice, racism, and war from a spiritual perspective. His autobiography, which includes a dramatic account of his conversion experience, has sold millions of copies since it was published in 1949.

Merton wrote for The Jester while at Columbia and became one of Columbia's most decorated graduates. He received the prestigious Columbia University Medal of Honor in 1961. His life was cut short by a bathtub electrocution in 1968, just days before he was to speak at a convention meant to help bridge the gap between eastern and western religions.

Rafferty studied Merton's love for Latin America, how Merton's prayers led him to justice and peace, and the text of Seasons of Celebration, a book which described Merton's gratitude towards the teachings of Corpus Christi. From June 18 to August 1, Rafferty split his time between the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist, Ky., the Merton Center at Bellarmine University, and the Iona Community in Scotland.

Rafferty's days were split between quiet prayer and reflection and interactions with people from various walks of life that helped him integrate Merton's works into his own thought processes and writing.

Rafferty won the grant through the Louisville Institute's 2005 Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders program based out of the Louisville Seminary in Kentucky. On the 298 applicants, Rafferty was one of 51 winners, earning $6,000 for six weeks of study.

The program enables religious leaders to leave their parishes for a period of reflection

matthew daniel--senior staff photographer

Rev. Raymond Rafferty, the pastor of Corpus Christi Church on W. 121st Street, pauses near a painting of Thomas Merton, the religious icon whose life Rafferty studied in Kentucky and Scotland.

and study, time intended to strengthen the hearts and minds of the religious leaders and enable them to bring fresh perspectives into their parishes.

"A sabbatical that gives me the opportunity to read, study, and pray in the light of Thomas Merton's spirituality would allow me to offer [Corpus Christi Parish] a new direction and unified pastoral plan for its future," Rafferty wrote in his grant proposal.

Rafferty, the pastor at Corpus Christi Church for the last seven years, explained that his love for Merton began in 1949, when at age 11 he read Merton's autobiography Seven Storey Mountain. After growing up in Newburgh, N.Y., Rafferty studied English at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., and received his master's degree in English from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He studied at St. Joseph's Seminary for five years before becoming ordained in 1966.

Spending six weeks studying Merton allowed Rafferty to examine his own spirituality and help his parishioners by using Merton's teachings to examine their own beliefs, he said.

"Merton has such widespread appeal because he lived a wild life, but had such a dramatic conversion and lived it intensely. It made him human to the public. He was a renaissance man whose works are timeless," Rafferty said.