Talk Explores Writings of Thomas Merton
Fr. Dan Horan, OFM, a Franciscan friar of Holy Name Province, will deliver a lecture at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 29, in the Hermance Family Chapel of St. Basil the Great.
His talk, “Martin, Malcolm, and Merton: The Work for Racial Justice and the Responsibility of Catholic Spirituality,” offers insight into the way the Trappist monk and Catholic theologian Thomas Merton read, reflected on, and was challenged by the lived example and written legacies of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X during the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Merton in turn developed a spirituality of resistance that called for Christians—especially white Christians like himself—to embrace a spirit of conversion to see the many ways they too were complicit in the reality of structural racism.
Free and open to the public, the lecture is sponsored by the Jennifer Koon Peacekeeping Fund and the Office of Campus Ministry.
A Franciscan friar and assistant professor of systematic theology and spirituality at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Illinois, Fr. Horan is the author of several books including the award-winning The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton: A New Look at the Spiritual Influence on his Life, Thought, and Writing (2014).
Fr. Horton is the author of more than 120 popular and scholarly articles; is a frequent lecturer and retreat director around the United States, Canada, and Europe; and has previously taught at Siena College, St. Bonaventure University, and in the School of Theology and Ministry of Boston College. His latest book was God Is Not Fair and other Reasons for Gratitude (2016) and his next book, All God’s Creatures: A Theology of Creation, is due out in May 2018.
He is also co-editor of the academic journal “New Theology Review” and co-host of “The Francis Effect Podcast.”
He received a doctoral degree in theology from Boston College, master's of divinity and arts degrees from the Washington Theological Union, and a bachelor’s degree from St. Bonaventure University.
Fr. Horan will also preside and preach at the 10 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. masses on Sunday, April 29. A marshmallow roast will follow the evening mass.