By Julia Mericle
News Assignment Editor
Tomorrow, St. Bonaventure will host Thomas Merton’s 100th Birthday Party celebration and Winter Carnival. The event will span from noon to midnight.
According to Father Francis Di Spigno, O.F.M., Thomas Merton, who taught English for a year at Bonaventure in the 1940s and later became a monk and author of “Seven Storey Mountain,” is a major part of the culture at Bonaventure.
“Thomas Merton is woven into the history of the university,” Father Francis said. “It was here that he was wrestling with his vocation and it was here, in front of the statue of St. Therese, that he realized his call to live in the monastery.”
Father Francis said he hopes the event will raise conversation and awareness of Merton among the student body.
“We hope that here at St. Bonaventure we give you that understanding that you have a vocation, not [necessarily] to the priesthood, not to religious life, not to become a sister or a brother, but you have a vocation,” Father Francis said. “What is God calling you to do in this world?”
To kick off Merton’s birthday party from noon to 5 p.m., there will be an ice skating rink in front of Plassmann Hall, sponsored by Campus Activities Board (CAB), as well as horse-drawn wagon rides and a selfie contest.
“I’ve never been ice skating before, so the winter carnival will be the first time I get to,” freshman psychology major Matthew Bacher said.
Games such as “Dress the Friar,” snowperson building and KanJam will make up the winter games competition segment of the celebration.
At 4 p.m. on the Reilly Quad a basketball tailgate party will take place. The first 250 students to attend the tailgate and show their SBU IDs will receive a free chili dog. Face painting and a Bona’s Spirit Dance-a-Thon will follow. The tailgate will conclude at 6:30 p.m., prior to the 7 p.m. men’s basketball game vs. LaSalle.
“I’m looking forward to going to the basketball game with everyone back on campus,” junior sports studies major Matthew Creeron said. “The Reilly Center is going to be wild and packed.”
A comedy show by the Laugh Pack, a slam-poetry performance by Chattertons Slam Poetry Club and a jazz segment by the SBU New Boppers will be held from 9 p.m. to midnight in the Hickey Dining Hall. The winners of the winter games competition will also be announced.
To conclude the event, students can participate in a “100 Lantern Lift-Off” and attend a midnight Mass of Celebration in Café LaVerna.
“The purpose is to bring some life and some joy to the fact that we are in the middle of winter,” Father Francis said. “I am a firm believer that we accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative, so let’s have a winter carnival.”
