Merton’s Kentucky: A Contemplative Pilgrimage
You are invited- invited to sit in the same silence Thomas Merton knew, to walk the grounds he walked, to let his words sink into you in the place where they were born. This spring, you are invited to join folks from throughout the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee as we make this pilgrimage of contemplative discovery together.
For four days in Kentucky, we will be hosted by the Sisters of Loretto and we’ll gather at Gethsemani Abbey, the Trappist monastery where Merton spent twenty-seven years seeking God in silence and solitude. We’ll immerse ourselves in his writings, awakening to the contemplative vision that shaped his life and continues to speak to ours. We’ll participate in the monastic rhythm of prayer. We’ll sit in centering prayer. We’ll listen. We’ll be changed, quietly, by proximity to both ancient practice and a modern soul who devoted himself to it.
This pilgrimage is for all who are drawn to it, whether you’ve read everything Merton wrote or you’re encountering him for the first time, whether contemplative prayer is your longtime practice or you’re just beginning to enter its depths.
The details: 23 pilgrims welcomed. April 20–23. $600 per person (scholarships available) with a $100 deposit. Meals included, except lunches on Monday and Thursday while we’re traveling. Daily immersion in Merton’s work. Daily participation in Gethsemani’s liturgy. Space to pray. Time to simply be.