Compassionate Fire: The Letters of Thomas Merton & Catherine De Hueck Doherty

by Robert A. Wild (Editor)

Just after Thomas Merton’s death in 1968, Catholic social activist Catherine de Hueck Doherty wrote to Merton’s "In some strange mysterious way I never quite understood, [he] was in part my spiritual son." The friendship originated when Merton worked at Friendship House in Harlem, and this volume of warm, candid correspondence traces nearly three decades of friendship through thirty-one surviving letters—fourteen written by Merton, and seventeen by Doherty. Doherty's previously unpublished letters are now brought together with those of Merton. The exchange reveals Merton’s development from a young man searching for his place in God’s plan, to a monk seeking God through solitude and work for social justice.

Genres: Spirituality

110 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

Reviews

[Randy Evans · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I wanted to get a sense of Thomas Merton who I have never read before. In this the book was successful as I heard the warmth and wisdom in Merton's correspondence. It has inspired me to take up some of his other writing.

[Milan Homola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too high were my expectations. Really was mostly boring