Tuesdays with Merton Podcast

This past Advent, seventeen peacemakers led by Catholic Workers across the country returned from Palestine-Israel hosted by Sabeel, which is the grassroots, ecumenical Palestinian liberation theology movement rooted in the universal ethic of nonviolence. Meeting with civil society peacemakers across faiths, institutions, and identities in Palestine-Israel, the goals of the trip were to 1) be with and encourage the people who are under attack, 2) collaborate with Sabeel on ways that the unjust, complex realities of life in Palestine-Israel might be improved, and 3) expose human rights violations and prioritize human connection. The delegation was part of a wave of desperately needed international presence, answering the open invitation from Palestinian Christians, who are the direct descendants of the first Christians and the Living Stones of our faith, to come and see, and go and tell. They are seeking solidarity and a physical presence from faith communities in the United States amidst the U.S.-funded ongoing genocide in Gaza that is spreading to the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Jessica Sun (she/they) is a 2nd generation economic-settler-immigrant and Chinese U.S. American zillennial from northern Virginia. A Catholic convert after 10 years of identifying with varying philosophies as an agnostic, she finds a dear sense of belonging in spaces of zealous, Gospel-led advocacy and action for just peace and nonviolence. Christians for a Free Palestine, Pax Christi USA, and the PCUSA Young Adult Caucus are her organizing homes. A graduate of the Virginia Tech College of Engineering, she had worked as a software engineer by day, local activist by life. She is currently in the application process to the Sisters of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

This presentation examines how Thomas Merton and Howard Thurman each offer distinct yet related perspectives on mystical anthropology. It brings Thurman’s “search for common ground” into conversation with Thomas Merton’s account of the “true self.” While Thurman asks how oppressed communities can remain spiritually alive amid racism, poverty, and political terror, Merton confronts the “false self” constructed by egoism, consumerism, nationalism, and approval addiction. Though writing from different social locations, both identify fear as the central force distorting human identity and turn to contemplation as a practice of re-humanization. By grounding the self in divine depth rather than social scripts, they offer complementary resources for resisting internalized oppression across the color line.

Byron D. Wratee was born and raised in Kingstree, South Carolina, a rural town in South Carolina’s Gullah-Geechee corridor. Dr. Wratee worked as a lawyer and political activist before becoming a theologian. His family has a long tradition of military service, so he decided to serve briefly. He deployed in 2011 to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as a combat medic. Dr. Wratee discerned the call to become a theologian during his tour in Afghanistan.


A lifelong musician, Dr. Wratee served as a pastoral musician and liturgist in several churches. He also ministers as a lay preacher and has preached at churches in multiple denominations. Byron currently teaches in the theology and religious studies department at Villanova University.

John Dickerson is a journalist, author, and longtime interviewer, most recently co-anchor of the CBS Evening News and chief political analyst for CBS News. He spent 16 years at CBS, where he also served as senior national correspondent, contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning, and previously co-host of CBS This Morning. From 2015 to 2018, he moderated Face the Nation and served as the network’s chief Washington correspondent. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he moderated two CBS presidential debates. From 2019 to 2021, he was a correspondent for 60 Minutes, where his story on the death of Elijah McClain was nominated for an Emmy. He resigned from CBS News in December 2025.

In addition to his political reporting, Dickerson is known for his in-depth interviews with figures ranging from Apple CEO Tim Cook to actors Glenda Jackson and Christian Bale; authors Colson Whitehead, Michael Lewis, and Tara Westover; and musicians John Prine, Jon Batiste, Jason Isbell, and Dave Matthews.

Dickerson is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and for 20 years has been a co-host of Slate’s Political Gabfest. He also hosts Whistlestop, a podcast on presidential history, and Navel Gazing, drawn from his 35 years of notebooks he carries with him.

He began his career at Time magazine, covering economics, Congress, and national politics, and spent four years as its White House correspondent. From 2005 to 2015, he was Slate’s chief political correspondent. He has covered nine presidential campaigns.

Dickerson is the author of On Her Trail (Simon & Schuster); the New York Times bestseller Whistlestop: My Favorite Stories from Presidential Campaign History (Twelve Books); and The Hardest Job in the World: The American Presidency (Random House).

He has received the Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency, the David Broder Award for political reporting, and in 2025, the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in TV Political Journalism for his essays.

A native Washingtonian, Dickerson graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a degree in English and American Studies. He lives in New York City where he serves on the board of Covenant House International.

See future programs and register to join a future discussion live at: https://merton.org/twm/

What kind of economic system might Thomas Merton advocate? What principles would it be based on and how would it differ from what we see in the United States, or Sweden, or China, or Cuba? Answering these questions requires developing the negatives. Merton's writings are full of critiques of capitalism and its voracious appetites, its obsession with technology, its triviality and tricks, its relationship to the war machine, and its degradation of humans in pursuit of profit. Merton also critiques communism and its materialism, its obsession with technology, its relationship to the war machine, its degradation of humans in pursuit of production, and its repression of individual freedoms. In this talk, Megan Way will attempt to develop Merton's negatives into an imagined picture of a more "Mertonian" type of economic system, and will ask the participants to lend their imaginations and insights from Merton to this process.

Megan Way, PhD. is an Associate Professor of Economics at Babson College in Wellesley, MA. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate business students, and her research spans several areas, including family economics, ecological economics, socio-ecological systems and most recently, spiritual leaders and economic ideals. Megan completed the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, NM, in 2021. She and her husband Rob have four grown children, and live on Cape Cod.

See future programs and register to join a future discussion live at: https://merton.org/twm/

One year after Thomas Merton's passing, the Black American liberation theologian James Cone published Black Theology and Black Power, a reflection on the Black Power movement of the 1960s and the central role that liberation plays in the Christian gospel. As we know, Merton dedicated significant effort considering U.S. race relations broadly and the Black Power Movement specifically as evidenced by an entire chapter in his book Faith and Violence, entitled “From Non-violence to Black Power” but what we don't know is if the two ever met in person. Nonetheless, Merton and Cone inhabited proximate theological and physical geography at pivotal moments in their thinking and praxis (Corpus Christi, the church where Merton was baptized, and Union Theological Seminary, where James Cone taught and wrote, share an intersection). By putting Merton and Cone into conversation with each other, we grasp a deeper understanding of how contemplative practice lends itself to liberation on the margins. If God is Black, then silence is God’s first language.

As a pastor, theologian, and faith-based community organizer, Jordan Jones is interested in exploring what role contemplation has in the Black Radical Tradition by way of building and cultivating Beloved "fugitive" communities. This was his focus as a seminarian at Union Theological Seminary and continues to be as an associate pastor at Metro Hope Church in East Harlem, New York where he lives and also works as a barista.

Jordan was a recent member of the 205 Sojourners Journalism Cohort and a clergy fellow with FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics). Prior to moving to New York City for seminary, Jordan lived in Medellín, Colombia, as a Fulbright scholar and journalist. A native to Atlanta and graduate from Morehouse College, Jordan is an avid jazz listener and amateur salsa dancer. He is currently seeking ordination with the Disciples of Christ and plans to pursue doctoral work in the near future.

 

See future programs and register to join a future discussion live at: https://merton.org/twm/