A Theology of Creativity: Thomas Merton & Praying with Art

A GUIDED RETREAT AND VISIT TO GETHSEMANI AND MERTON’S HERMITAGE

Thomas Merton wrote: “The artist should preach nothing—not even his own autonomy. His art should speak its own truth, and in so doing it will be in harmony with every other kind of truth—moral, metaphysical and mystical.” The Trappist monk famous for his autobiography and spiritual writings was also a photographer and artist. Retreatants will journey through Merton’s life in art: his parents who were artists, his college cartoons, a religious conversion inspired by art, and his evolving style of photography and calligraphic drawings that parallel his growth and development in spirituality. Retreatants will have the rare opportunity to visit Merton’s hermitage at Gethsemani where Br. Paul Quenon, a poet, photographer, and a former novice of Merton’s will discuss Gregorian chant. There will be ample time to spend in the natural beauty of the Nazareth Retreat Center and the grounds of Gethsemani Abbey and opportunities to pray with the monks of Gethsemani during the Liturgy of the Hours.

Mark C. Meade is the assistant director of the Thomas Merton Center in Louisville and is a past president of the International Thomas Merton Society. In over 20 years at the Center, he has given tours to thousands of guests and presented internationally on Thomas Merton.