Thomas Merton scholars upset by monk's absence in upcoming catechism

Published: 2005-01-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new catechism for adults, currently awaiting Vatican approval, has some scholars up in arms not over the actual text, but over what is missing. Early editions of the upcoming "U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults," which went through four years of writing and fine-tuning, led off with a section on Trappist Father Thomas Merton. But the Kentucky monk, who became well known for his best-selling autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain," about his conversion to Catholicism, is not in the final draft of the catechism. Instead, the 456-page book begins with a description of the life of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. The replacement did not go unnoticed by Merton scholars who started a petition drive to get him back. Msgr. Daniel Kutys, deputy secretary for catechesis in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' education department, said that during early consultations on the text some suggested that it contained too many stories about men and not enough examples of women. Thus Elizabeth Ann Seton was chosen to replace the Thomas Merton entry, he said, not only for her gender, but because she, like Merton, was a convert to Catholicism.

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