NOVEMBER 26, 2018 GATHERING

-
Meeting Place and Directions
The Resurrection Room of Saint Noel Parish, 35200 Chardon Rd, Willoughby Hills, OH 44094.
An overview of the Parish, and driving directions is provided by the following post:
Meeting Time and Format
6:00 pm hospitality hour for meeting new people, becoming reacquainted, and more deeply acquainted. 

Discussion of our experiences with Merton and his effect upon people's lives.

7:00 pm prayer:

Betty Jeffries will lead us in prayer using Merton material.

7:15 - 8:15 pm  Discussion of the following articles: 


Ambiguities in the Secular
By Thomas Merton
June 3, 1966
Is the world a problem? I type the question. I am tempted to type it over again, with asterisks between the letters, the way H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n used to type his name in the New Yorker twenty years ago. And as far as I am concerned that would dispose of the question. But Commonweal is doubtless too concerned about the question to accept this: a blank page with "Is the world a problem" running down the middle, full of asterisks. So I have to be serious too, and develop it. It is, you see, a topic. And a topical topic.
Maybe I can spell this topic out coherently, admitting that there are still cogent reasons why the question should be asked and answered. Perhaps, too, I am personally involved in the absurdity of the question. Due to a book I wrote thirty years ago, I have myself become a sort of stereotype of the world-denying contemplative—the man who spurned New York, spat on Chicago, and tromped on Louisville, heading for the woods with Thoreau in one pocket, John of the Cross in another, and holding the Bible open at the Apocalypse. This stereotype is probably my own fault, and it is something I have to try to demolish on occasion. This is one of the occasions.


8:25 pm. Date and Location for December Meeting: We will NOT be meeting on the fourth Monday of December since it is Christmas Eve.  We are all set to meet in the small meeting room at St. Dominic School from 6 to 8:30 on Wednesday, December 12th. The address is 3455 Norwood Road, Shaker Heights, but the Church and School parking lot is entered from the east bound side of Van Aiken Boulevard

The Resurrection Room is available until 9:00pm when the church closes. There are many eating places in the area for those who might wish to socialize afterwards.

General Information

 We welcome subscribers, readers and friends of Commonweal to our meetings. However we ask you to preregister by sending an E-mail to Jack Rakosky at jarakosky@gmail.com. 

 Participants are expected to have read the material, and the group does a good job of staying on the topic. There is plenty of time before and after the topic discussion period to talk about many things.


 The eleven topics of the first  year where suggested by a total of seven people. We choose the topic for the next meeting at the end each meeting. The group has been very good at affirming suggestions. 

 If you wish to discuss an article in Commonweal come to a meeting, and suggest your topic for the next meeting. Below is a post which lists the topics for the first  year. Remember, however, if  you are not a subscriber that clicking on any of the links will count as one of  your free 5 articles for the month!