The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton, An Investigation, presentation by co-author Hugh Turley

This is a presentation by co-author Hugh Turley given Septemer 20th, 2019 at Maryhouse, NYC, the home of Dorothy Day.

Unfortunatley his introduction by Anthony Donovan and the first five minutes of Turley's talk were not recorded, and more disheartenly, the last 15 minutes, and then the very vibrant and lively Q and A that followed were also not recorded. The tape had run out. Appologies.

As he mentions the photos and sketches are not allowed to be shown publically. They can be viewed privately and at The Thomas Merton Center @ Bellarmine University.

Thomas Merton was murdered December 10th, 1968 in Thailand at a Conference. Few people know this, and most continue spreading the lie of how he died.

I968 the Vietnam War was raging.
Merton was long on the CIA watch list as being a clear opponent of this war, and disparaged the press that maintained it.
From the early 1960's he was vocal about the absurdity and immorality of nuclear weapons.
He praised both the strong movements toward peace by Pres. JFK in his last months of life and Pope John the 23rd calling for the end of nuclear weapons and their calls against rising militarism. Both would be dead within a few months of each another.

Deepening his own faith, he was in the growing confidence and wonderment of seeing the oneness of all peoples and faiths. A good number in the conservative U.S. Catholic Church disliked him greatly, saw him as a loose cannon and a threat to their one true faith.

He was was most articulate, a brilliant writer, one of humanity's as well as the Church's deepest searchers, and bridge builders. Ahead of his time, Merton had the courage to embrace the other, unafraid to integrate a larger understanding of the Love of Christ.

The 2018 book The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton, An Investigation by Hugh Turley and David Martin, although imperfect, and not pretending to be complete, shows us clearly the solid evidence needed to ease the dark shadow of his death.

There is still more work to be done, but here we can now see clearly he did not die by accident or his own carelessness, as the lie continues to be repeated for well over fifty years. He and his tremendous gift of a dedicated, inspired life to us all, diserves this wider truth.

We may not yet know who murdered this Martyr for humanity, for the core teachings of the Church.... that of loving thy neighbor,
But there is little doubt about a coverup by both the church and state.

The call for an independent autopsy remains, and so far this has been refused.

The Abbey would clearly continue to be beneffited by the large flow of visitors to where he lived, prayed, contemplated and wrote, and would be further honored knowing this great human was a Martyr of Peace, a Saint of the church of our day, laying in patience by it's walls.

• Category: Uncategorized
• Duration: 45:13
• Date:  2019-11-08 18:23:26
• Tags:   no-tag