There are only a few days remaining to take advantage of the discounted 'early bird' registration for the summer conference on Thomas Merton at St. Bonaventure University (prices go up after April 15). The conference, titled "Merton as Model and Mirror: Coming Home and Going Forth," is scheduled to take place from June 19-22 and "will celebrate the relationship between St. Bonaventure University and Merton in anticipation of Merton's 100th birthday in 2015." This is one of the first of what will likely be many varying celebrations around the United States and world commemorating the Merton Centenary in 2015.
There are many reasons why you should consider coming to this conference, especially if you live in New York, PA, Ohio, or Ontario, Canada, for whom it would be just a couple hours by car. For starters, St. Bonaventure University was the last place that Merton lived and worked -- he taught in the English department there before entering the monastery -- and it is a place where his discernment to religious life blossomed into what would become his true vocation. SBU in June is absolutely breathtaking, located in Western New York amid the Allegheny Mountains and beside the river. Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain and his journals from this time portray his experience walking the campus thinking, working, praying, and discerning. Also, there are opportunities to go out and actually visit the cabin in which he, Robert Lax, and their friends spent two summers writing, talking, drinking, and the like -- you've likely read about the importance of that place in The Seven Storey Mountain too. You can follow in his footsteps. All this having only to do with the campus itself!
Additionally, there is a whole host of amazing speakers lined up. For the keynote addresses you have some very familiar names:
    • Dom John Eudes Bamberger, O.C.S.O., Fourth Abbot of the Abbey of Genesee;
    • Christine Bochen, Ph.D., professor of religious studies and the William H. Shannon Chair in Catholic Studies at Nazareth College;
    • Fr. Daniel Horan, O.F.M.,  America magazine columnist, author, St. Bonaventure alumnus, and doctoral student in systematic theology at Boston College ;
    • Michael Higgins, Ph.D., professor of religious studies and vice president for mission and Catholic identity at Sacred Heart University.
There will also be a number of excellent 'break out' or 'concurrent' sessions that include some other important folks from the world of Merton scholarship.
For a little overview of Merton's time in Western New York and its significance, take a look at a 2013 feature article in The Buffalo News "Shadow of a Soul: Thomas Merton's Spiritual Path Wound Through Bonaventure Campus."
Check it out and consider coming, it will be a Merton experience of a lifetime! Visit: http://sbu.edu/about-sbu/news-events/events/thomas-merton-conference