By Amelia Kibbe
Features Editor
In the center of campus sits a small building with a big history. The home of university ministries, the Thomas Merton Ministry Center, has been the site of many activities for decades. This fall, talks began of the possibility of a new center.
In 1954, the building which now houses university ministries was constructed as a garage and maintenance department. University ministries acquired the building in 1972, after much of the university maintenance moved to a new building. In 1977, university ministries officials named the center the Thomas Merton Center in honor of former Bonaventure English instructor Thomas Merton, according to an article in Friedsam Memorial Library archives.
Due to a donation given to university ministries this past summer, there is the possibility of a new building or at least major renovations, Julianne Wallace, assistant director of faith formation worship and ministry at Bonaventure said.
Neither the amount of the donation nor the name of the donor has been made public.
“Because we are currently in a maintenance building, the space really doesn’t serve the purpose of ministries very well. We are out of office space,” Wallace said.
Wallace stressed that at this point, campus ministries is in the process of listening to students, faculty and staff’s ideas about what they want in a ministry center.
“It’s important to us that we hear what others have to think,” Wallace said. “We are doing listening sessions and having survey questions answered because we want whatever is done to meet the needs of the university. We want it not only to be for those of the Franciscan, Catholic spirituality but also people of the other spiritualties that are on campus.”
Father Francis Di Spigno, OFM, executive director of university ministries, added the new building would better fit the needs of the community.
“We hope to create a center that is beneficial to today’s community and is appropriate to today’s spiritual ethos,” Father Francis said.
According to Wallace, whether the building would continue to be named after Merton is also up for discussion.
Although no permanent date has been set to begin renovations or building, both Wallace and Father Francis expect action to begin around the 2015 or 2016 academic years.
Merton was a popular 20th century spiritual writer as well as a Trappist monk, according to Wallace. Wallace said Merton discovered his true calling while residing on campus.
“He realized his calling to the monastery while at Bonaventure,” Wallace said. “One of his best friends, Robert Lax, a well-known poet, is from Olean. They would come to campus and see Father Irenaeus, who ran the library, and he would let them have all kinds of books to read. That’s where his initial connection to Bona’s was. Later, he taught here for about a year and a half and during this time his realization of his vocation came to life.”
Father Francis said the spirit of Francis and Bonaventure influenced Merton in his religious decisions.
“He had a story similar to that of St. Francis,” Father Francis explained. “The Franciscan spirit helped him to become what he wanted.”
Merton illustrates his journey from Bonaventure to a monastery in Kentucky in his autobiography, “Seven Storey Mountain.”
