Interview with Kathleen Deignan,

Partial Transcript: Okay, gonna ask you a question that you know, you can't know his mind but, uh, you can know what you've read from his own writing speculate if you will, um, why did Merton go to Asia?

Segment Synopsis: Deignan discusses Merton's journey to Asia and how it was motivated by a desire to meet people he read in person. She thinks Merton felt that his life had to be a dialogue with other wisdom bearers, and that in the face of the violence of the time he was born into, he wanted to bring healing and peace to the world. She describes Merton as a very influential spiritual leader. Deignan discusses the Second Vatican Council and the contrasting viewpoints within.

Keywords: Cross cultural communication; Cultural and geographical exploration; Cultural interactions; Intercultural communication; Interfaith dialogue; Journeys; Peace making expeditions; Polyglots; Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican; Second Vatican Council; Vatican II

Subjects: Adult education.; Asia; Christian teachers.; Christianity.; Church.; Linguistics; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Mosaics; Nonviolence; Peace; Religion.; Spiritual leaders; Vatican Council (2nd : 1962-1965 : Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano); Violence

Partial Transcript: Uh, the, the search for collaboration and encounter and engagement with the wisdom traditions of the world so that men and women of good will, seekers of the greater good and the deeper meaning would come to know each other and meet each other

Segment Synopsis: Deignan discusses the concept of seekers of different traditions meeting and knowing each other. She says in her experience it is largely the Catholics who reach out to the non-Catholics in interfaith dialogues. She says one of Merton's greatest contributions to the Catholic community was a manifesto to engage with and love the world from a position of justice. She discusses how the apparent contradiction between Merton's missionary journeys to reach out and his vow of stability can be resolved by how he saw the world as his monastery and found stability in motion.

Keywords: Celtic monks; Christian monks; Consumerism; Economic inequality; Economic injustice; Injustices; Journeys; Missionary monks; Monasticism; Stability in God

Subjects: Capitalism; Celts; Christianity.; Church.; Classism; Hermits; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Missionaries; Monks; Poverty; Religion.; Social justice; Suffering; Sufis; Sufism; Theology

Partial Transcript: More or less the same age within a year or two I think, and so I remember sixty-eight very well and what it felt like, I was, uh, nineteen and full of life, so I thought, and I, so I have a real sense of it, describe your sense of what sixty-eight was like.

Segment Synopsis: Deignan says coming to a cultural awakening in the 1960s was a rollercoaster, and mentions that she entered her religious community at Notre Dame in 1966. She remembers that Merton had been very influential in her commitment to social and racial justice and a desire for God and that she and her friends founded a lay monastic community to keep his legacy alive. Deignan discusses mystics in depth, saying they serve as catalysts for change, and goes on to discuss Merton as a mystic.

Keywords: Benedictine Grange (West Redding, CT); Dharmakāya; Divine milieu; Heavenliness; Lay monasticism; Monasticism; Notre Dame; University of Notre Dame du Lac

Subjects: Buddha (The concept); Buddhism; Christian teachers.; Christianity.; Church.; Demonstrations; Enlightenment; International Thomas Merton Society; Lectio Divina; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Mystics; Paradise; Racial justice; Religion.; Social justice; Soup kitchens; Spiritual leaders; Theology; University of Notre Dame

Partial Transcript: Merton through his writing has given us a record of peak moments in his life, um, fourth and walnut, the time in Cuba, was Polonnaruwa

Segment Synopsis: Deignan says Merton's life can be described through the stages of his conversion. She thinks his final mystical awakening in Polonnaruwa was the result of a spiral of previous experiences. Deignan says he chose monasticism as a place of refuge, and mentions that there was a dialectical relationship between him and his abbot. She thinks the creative tension of being a monk and a writer might have been what he needed to ground himself.

Keywords: Christian monks; Conversion experiences; Monasticism; Mystical experiences; Mystical visions; Revelations; Spiritual awakenings; Transformations; Transformative experiences

Subjects: Buddhism.; Christian teachers.; Christianity.; Church.; Epiphanies; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Monks; Polonnaruwa (Sri Lanka); Religion.; Sri Lanka; Theology

Partial Transcript: Um, I can't really speak from my own life because even as a congregation sister, uh, who also has made promises of, of, uh, obedience to the congregation, to our mission, to our orientation

Segment Synopsis: Deignan briefly compares her religious life to Merton's. She thinks it might have been an unconscious relief to turn over some of his discernment to the abbot. She discusses Merton's writings, saying that he exposed his soul to the readers and that writing is a spiritual practice.

Keywords: Christian monks; Monasticism; Prose; Writing as a spiritual practice

Subjects: Abbots; Christian teachers.; Christianity.; Church.; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Monks; Poetry; Religion.; Spiritual leaders; Theology

Partial Transcript: My own background and training is in history of Christian spirituality.

Segment Synopsis: Deignan says people in her specialty are very curious about spiritual life across all traditions. She has researched Merton's writings to compose two volumes of compilations of his works, which have done extraordinarily well. She says the desire for these books says people are yearning to pray beautifully and people want to pray with Merton specifically. She says not everyone wants to pray in Lectio Divina but they also want to pray as an office.

Keywords: A Book of Hours; Book of quotations; Book of quotes; Christian office; Compilations; Quotes; Religious quotations; Religious quotes; When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature

Subjects: Christian teachers.; Christianity.; Lectio Divina; Meditations; Merton, Thomas, 1915-1968.; Poetry; Prayer; Prayer books; Quotations.; Spiritual leaders; Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre.; Theology