[american colleen]

Once I found a rather detailed story about Bella Dodd (after you told me about her I did some research) and it was quite interesting. There was some stuff about Pope John XXIII in the article as well. It was rather lengthy and it was published in one of the SSPX magazines, so I decided not to post it here lest I get flamed for being a SSPXer, which I'm not.

[Domestic Church]

"Once I found a rather detailed story about Bella Dodd..."

If you still have the link please post it...just tell folks it's for discussion but they'll need their salt shakers,lol. We should be able to pick through it. Isn't Pope John XXIII Blessed now? (So hard to keep up.)

About Merton, I always liked what I read but I read him simultaneously with St.John of the Cross, St.Therese, and the CCC when it came out...maybe his writings need to be couched in Carmelite tradition? Or maybe I just liked the sprinkling of Carmelite thought. I never thought of him as a blatant socialist but you are right about the leaning leftwards in his thought. Do you think Weakland might have liked the cachet of Merton or found it politically correct and useful? Do you think he actually knew him to any degree? This is the first link I've heard between these two.