in the classroom, and I do, but I always tell younger teachers who are so tech-savvy, when things fail, you better be ready to give what's up here, because you're gonna have to do that rather than punt, and I always smile when we have glitches with technology, so I'm pleased here, and I brought no, I think, well, the damasses would be pleased, there's no PowerPoint, there's no bells and whistles, But what I do bring is I think a topic that is of inherent interest to you. I know this is a year when you're being inundated with Merton. Sister Donald talked about Merton in December, Dr. Higgins did last month or in March, and you have more coming in the fall. But I think it's important that we do tie these two figures of Father Damascus and Father Thomas together because they're a remarkable pair.

[01:04]

They had a very clear friendship with one another and they were kindred spirits. It's of interest, I think, to see they were both of European birth. They first came to the United States more as exiles than as immigrants. They were men of incomparable intellectual capability. Their horizon of monastic life was wider and richer than many of their contemporaries. They carried unique charismatic qualities that attracted dedicated disciples from all corners of the spiritual and social worlds in which they lived. They were by turn teachers of an ancient repository of monastic tradition, but also proponents of a new and prophetic form of monastic life for the second half of the 20th century. Their own monastic call was one that suffered regular bouts of resistance and misunderstanding from others.

[02:14]

and it also had a very critical self-examination by themselves. Merton, of course, remains an icon of the spiritual seeker for generations of believers. There is indeed a Merton cottage industry that seems to have no limit of articles or books. We have a Merton reader, we have a Merton encyclopedia, I'm sure there's a Merton app somewhere that people have produced for the tech savvy. It was very heartening for me to hear Pope Francis mention him along with Dorothy Day by name in his talk to the United States Congress last fall. He does appear in so many different places. There was a new play that had Burton as a central figure that was originally produced in Louisville two years ago and was in New York City last year. He remains the closest thing to a celebrity that monasticism in the last century has produced.

[03:21]

By contrast, Damasus Winson remains in obscurity for all but the inner circle of monastic seekers, not here, of course, but in the wider world. His life, his writings are the province more of specialists in monastic spirituality. But I would hold that the combined contribution to monastic life in this country by these two contemporaries merits more sustained reflection. And I think in the process of that reflection, our own understanding of the monastic charism can be enhanced. So first of all, something about parallel paths that these two people took. As I think I indicated, they're both people of the 20th century. Winston was born in Germany in 1901. Merton was born in France in 1915. They were schooled in Europe and maintained their European connections to the end of their lives.

[04:27]

Both were sent to the United States at a time when they were undergoing considerable trial and testing in their lives. They were both drawn to New York City for different reasons, yet most of their time in this country was spent in remote areas far removed from the circles of academia, and the intensity of America's then largely urban form of Catholicism. But there were distinct differences between their two life narratives. Winston was a cradle Catholic who entered the monastery of Maria Locke at the age of 20. Merton was a mirror of today's nuns, not the N-U-N-S's, the N-O-N-E-S's, those with no stated religious affiliation, waiting until young adulthood, in Merton's case, for his conversion to Catholicism and his subsequent entry into monastic life at the Abbey of Gethsemane. Winsen was mentored by monastic giants of his day, Abbot Edelfons Hervegen and Father Odo Kassel of Maria Lack, teachers such as Romano Guardini and Lambert Baudouin.

[05:43]

Merton, on the other hand, was an autodidact. with respect at least to monasticism. He immersed himself after he entered Gethsemane with primary text of monastic life, particularly when he was given in his early years at Gethsemane permission to spend large amounts of time in the book vault of the monastery. Both men were known for their extensive letter writing. And the scope and diversity of their fellow correspondents say nothing of the sheer heft of their correspondence staggers researchers accustomed to the electronic terseness of communication in the generations that follow. Again, we have to think no computers, we have to think Merton's typewriters were probably worse even than Damasus had here, and yet they continued to clank out letter after letter and write them. Damasus was more into writing than Merton was, but their sheer volume is just staggering.

[06:47]

Winston's first years in the monastery coincided with the spread of the liturgical movement in the monasteries of Europe, and a love for the liturgy especially in its theological depth and in his new openness to full and active participation of those taking part in it, remained a prominent part of Winston's persona. It was, in fact, a sensibility he continued to develop after he came to the United States in 1938. from his collaboration with Godfrey Dieckmann on Orate Fratres to leadership in starting the Benedictine Liturgical Weeks. How many people remember Benedictine Liturgical Weeks? We go back to the 40s for this. It was a watershed in terms of the liturgical movement in this country. And I would say perhaps the most indispensable role he played was securing use of the vernacular in the divine office for monastic communities in the period after Vatican Council II.

[07:51]

Burton, on the other hand, even after his conversion to Catholicism and entrance into Gethsemane, didn't have a comparable affinity for the liturgy. He could write about it, he could appreciate the centrality of the divine office, but the liturgical character of monastic life did not have the formative influence for him that it had for Winston. There was a notable exception and that was a liturgical reform near and dear to Winston, what I had just mentioned, the use of the vernacular in the office. There was a great discussion on this in the 1960s and Winston was in the leading edge of people wanting to promote it. Merton too saw this as vital for the future of monasticism in the United States. telling his friend Damasus in a letter that without permission to pray in English, the American monasteries would fail to attract new vocations.

[08:57]

Then, of course, for Merton, there is the search for solitude. a desire that colored so much of the last 15 years of his life, which was quite distinct from Winson's ongoing efforts to construct a cenobitical community that would encompass the best elements of contemplative and liturgical life. They both were great advocates of contemplation, but the context for Winson was always cenobitical. Burton had this yearning for the hermitage. Then too, the side of Burton that spoke and wrote of social issues such as the morality of nuclear weapons and race relations carried less resonance with the Mount Savior community founded by Winson. They were certainly open and sympathetic to it, but it was not part of their inherent message. Merton is described by his biographer, Michael Mott, as a rebel who could still uphold the primacy of monastic obedience.

[10:04]

You get this, there was a great controversy, if you know the life of Merton. He wanted to receive an indulge to leave Gethsemane, back in the 1950s, and he actually sent directives to Rome, making a petition, and was very vocal about his reasons why. It was denied, and once it was denied, all of his correspondence shows he is accepting it, and he's ready to do whatever the Abbot at Gethsemane wants. But it's one of the many contradictions in Merton's life, and they are many. He was a person who could accept monastic obedience, live it out, but then as one of his converts would say, gripe the next day. I think we're familiar with that type of attitude, aren't we? There was, too, an outsider status that attached itself to both figures. Winston was the quintessential European monk.

[11:05]

In fact, he attracted people with his natural courtliness and his German accent, especially in his early years. He knew, too, that he was on foreign ground. And those first years when he searched for sites to establish an American setting for his monastery, which was his initial mission, he knew the difficulty of that enterprise. And just to remind people who may not be familiar with Father Damasus' early years, in his first 10 years in the US, he moved from Darlington, New Jersey, to Keyport, New Jersey, to Manhattanville College in New York, to Regina Laudis Monastery in Connecticut, before finally becoming founder of Mount Savior. And you could argue the point that even in his time at Mount Savior, Winston was never really at home. Part of that was the practical need to go out, secure benefactors, give retreats, bring home the bacon, so to speak, keep the farm going.

[12:09]

But there was also this creative energy that was part of Father Damasus that he needed other monastic outlets. He also had an understanding that He wanted to plant a new type of monastery that by its very uniqueness would set him apart from other American monks and even perhaps his own confreres. Burton's odyssey from France to England to Long Island to New York City and St. Bonaventure University mirrors one part of his complex personality, which is that of a searcher. Anyone who has read Merton's journals and his correspondence will notice the signs of the searcher and the outlier. He's the hermit in search of solitude, the restless monk who identifies with new monastic communities in Mexico or Chile. He is taking his stand against Cistercian bureaucracy, inept church leadership, United States militarism,

[13:15]

and what he called the big pot of spiritual adolescence, Gethsemane. It's a great phrase, isn't it? The big pot of spiritual adolescence. He may have found solidarity with the wider world in his famous epiphany at Fourth and Walnut Streets in Louisville, but there seemed to be a good fit in the performance of his duties at Gethsemane that he did eventually recognize. And I think that deserves a lot of credit for some of the people who recognized all the contradictions in Merton and saw that Gethsemane was probably a good place for him to hang his hat, so to speak. If there were one category where both Merton and Winston are captured best, I think it would be as men of a prophetic spirit. They seemed to realize that even as they articulated new paradigms of ecclesial and monastic life, they were gonna have resistance.

[14:20]

Some people would welcome their ideas, but a lot of people would resist them. Sounds familiar with the Christian story, doesn't it? And I think what must have troubled both of them was not so much that their vision was rejected as that it was not received and understood as they intended. And of course, that's the plight of most prophetic figures. Perhaps an instance of the prophetic status of both Burton and Winsden can be affirmed by the close relationship they shared with Fr. Gregory Lemercier, a Belgian monk, whose experimental monastic community in Cuernavaca, Mexico, received their support even as it came under criticism from official church circles because of its alleged engagement with currents of leftist political thought and psychological testing. Burton, in fact, at one time had planned to go down to Mexico. It's a whole different sidebar in monastic history, but it's very interesting.

[15:22]

But again, they seem to have this inherent identification with people on the margins, and people of great vision on the monastic scene in mid-20th century. Another Gregory, Father Gregory Borchstedt, prior of the English Benedictine Foundation of Portsmouth Priory in Rhode Island, was a less controversial but very central figure in the life of Damasus Winston and Thomas Merton. Damasus in particular wanted to have some help in establishing his American foundation. And he thought that it would be a great combination, his German background, and some of the practical common sense Anglo-Saxon tradition of monasticism that Father Gregory shared. He was a kindred spirit. And I think the contemplative and sentimental aspects of the Benedictine tradition that they both saw as important really helped to solidify the foundation of Mount Savior.

[16:31]

And when you go out to the cemetery, a lot of people deservedly are there visiting Father Damascus, say your prayer of thanks to Father Gregory, too. He went through a lot in being, as they say, co-founder of Mount Savior. While Merton's prophetic stance was directed most clearly in his writings protesting the moral shame of racial discrimination, American militarism, and a capitalist consumer culture, Winston's most striking and persuasive prophetic writings were in the area of liturgy and community life. The thrust of his message was to call people to a spirit-filled model of monastic living. If you know anything about Maria Locke, you know this is at the heart of what he really was able to gather from the monastic renewal that had taken place there. He saw the ideal monastery as having a balanced life of prayer and manual labor, and this would serve as a sign of contradiction to the institutionalized and clerical apostolates of other monasteries of men in the United States.

[17:41]

One should also add that Burton and Winston were two monastic figures of their time whose reading tastes were far wider and deeper than their peers. It's incredible what they were able to read. I mean, where they found time to do it. But just an instance, I think some people are familiar if you've read Seven Story Mountain or other works of Burton. You know, he's in New York in 1937, just walking down the street. He looks in the Catholic bookstore and sees Etienne Gilson's The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy. He purchased it probably on a whim. And really that was the book that set him on his course to Catholicism. but he kept on reading. And it was reading that was not necessarily recommended by his Trappist superiors. He began his Buddhist writings, which of course led to his pilgrimage to Asia at the end of his life. Winston too, as a young monk, was reading so much, but he read good quality things.

[18:45]

I think Romano Guardini's spirit of the liturgy that he read as a young monk was what sparked his interest in liturgical reform and the quality of his reading extended to the rest of his life as he absorbed so many ancient and modern European and American perspectives. I'd like to just concentrate now on a section I would call articulators of a monastic vision because at the heart of understanding these two people, they transmitted a very clear vision. And we need to know something about what it looked like. In one sense, you know, we have these people in the ancient world who are rhetoricians. Rhetoric has a bad name today. You know, we think of political rhetoric, and especially in this year, everyone just shakes their head and, oh boy. Rhetoric has a much more high class and deserved reputation.

[19:51]

provide a language for us. Rhetoricians give us images that compel us, persuade us to a particular ideal, and that's what both Burton and Winston did. They presented alternative models of monastic living that were at once based on the ancient tradition that these two people had so readily absorbed, and it was a product of their original and controversial reading of the signs of the times. They were great discerners of what was happening in the society around them, as good monks should be. They did it largely through the written word, but they were adept at having their vision emerge in classes with novices, as in the case of Burton, or in community conferences and homilies, as was the case with Winston. A significant element of that vision was the manner in which it was the logical extension of a dialogue that both men had had with a wide range of quite an array of people.

[20:55]

There were fellow monastics, there were Christian believers, there were intellectuals, there were non-Christians, there were secular writers. Again, I can't emphasize how both Merton and Winson went outside the usual boxes of monastic life. And the evolution of their vision over time is a testament to the inner transformation that was occurring in their own lives. And that is what monasticism is all about. It's about the transformation we have in Christ. In Burton's case, read Seven Story Mountain, the sign of Jonas, early works, and then read Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander or Contemplation in a World of Action at the End of His Life. Huge evolution. Winston's published works, even though they're of a much more modest size than Burton's, also show considerable development. You know, the Pathways in Scripture was written at a time before we had the Constitution Dei Verbum on the divine word at Reading Council II, before we had this openness and appreciation of the power of scripture.

[22:08]

And Monastic Studies, the journal that was produced here at Mount Savior for so many years, was really one of the few places in the 1960s you could have a way of getting a handle on what was happening for monastic renewal. The point being, the vision was in place, but it also was evolving. And I think these two figures forged a great deal of their vision through what Pope Francis has famously identified as the way of encounter and the way of dialogue. A dialogue that for both Winston and Merton was emphatically affirmed in the extensive and diverse correspondence that they carried on. I can't go into all the specifics and we might talk about that in your response, but It's worthy of noting that a very distinctive feature of Winston's vision was having a large number of Leopolis affiliated with the local Benedictine community.

[23:14]

Today, that's standard fare. In the 1950s, that was not on anyone's horizon. But he saw it, and I think he sensed how people would be drawn to monasteries, and people would find themselves nurtured by them. Of course, for Winston, from the time he first came to the United States, there was this cultivation that he had a particular genius for, of engaging people from disparate backgrounds and interests and through the enthusiastic espousal of his monastic vision, persuading them to formalize a contact with his community as obolents. Perhaps the most significant contribution of both Burton and Winson to the model of monasticism in the United States that was being formed in the period between 1945 and 1970 was their espousal of a less institutional mode of monastic living.

[24:17]

Part of this certainly was desiring to have the contemplative. Part of it was recognizing that it was time to change the operative model. You know, if you read Burton's letters, the last decade of his life especially, he was constantly criticizing, the Gethsemane of fruitcakes and sales and everything. At the same time, Winston had noted very acutely the predominant activist strain of Benedictine life in the many American monasteries he had a chance to visit. And he had the insight, which I think was significant, that the liturgical life and monastic observance in these monasteries suffered because of all these works. Merton and Winston were intent on formulating a contrasting vision and a model of monastic life that would more faithfully adhere to early sources, early monastic tradition.

[25:24]

And in this respect, they hardly endorsed the resourcement, that French word that had become the operative theological method of Vatican Council to return to the sources. Joined to that was a conviction that there had to be a reduction of apostolic works, especially when these works took the monk out of the monastery and even out of the regular monastic round of prayer and community life. For Merton, the Trappist tradition of strict observance and enclosure from the outside world should have been a natural model for his ideal monastic community. But again, in his critique of the busyness of Gethsemane, he began to become an advocate of an arimedical option for those monks seeking greater solitude. And when Burton finally received permission to build his hermitage in 1965, it opened the door for many others to do the same. especially at Gethsemane.

[26:25]

In fact, one monk at Gethsemane was proud to say, if you know anything about Burton, he and James Fox, who was his abbot for over 30 years, were all at loggerheads all the time. Fox was the one that finally gave him permission to go into the hermitage. And after Fox stepped down as abbot in 68, what did he do? Go out to a hermitage.

[26:46]

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