Thomas Merton Center rallies its allies to plan move
The Thomas Merton Center in Garfield is calling “all hands on deck” to brainstorm about its next chapter, likely in a new building.
A meeting has been called for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the building it has occupied for the past 10 years at 5129 Penn Ave. (But check the center’s Facebook page on the day of, in case the meeting is canceled.)
The Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. bought the building 34 years ago as part of its investment in the neighborhood. Now, it is trimming its sails for a leaner future. The BGC would like to sell the building by Dec. 31, 2021, said Rick Swartz, the BGC’s executive director.
One of its causes going forward is affordable housing, and toward that end, it helped establish the Garfield Land Trust, which invests in properties to oversee future sales to keep them affordable in perpetuity. But in its effort to divest of the Penn Avenue property, the BGC could cause the Merton Center’s displacement.
The BGC has been a generous landlord, keeping the rent low, said Gabriel McMorland, the Merton Center’s executive director.
Mr. Swartz said he would prefer to sell the building to the Merton Center, but Mr. McMorland said he doubts the center would be able to afford it at $400,000 to $500,000. A second-mortgage arrangement might be possible, to help the center remain, Mr. Swartz said, adding that two longtime tenants live in upstairs apartments.
Whether — or wherever — the Merton Center rents or buys, Mr. McMorland said, the one certainty is that “we need to raise a lot of money.”
The center owns nearby 5123 Penn Ave., home of the East End Community Thrift Store, and that building needs repairs. It is essential that it stays in the neighborhood, he said, “because we have volunteer leaders there who have lived in the neighborhood forever.”
The center rents a second storefront, at 5119 Penn, where Pittsburghers for Public Transit operates on foundation support and covers the rent.
The Merton Center is named for the Trappist monk whose writings on spirituality, peace and social justice earned him worldwide acclaim even while he maintained a vow of silence. Activists Molly Rush and Larry Kessler founded the center in 1972, four years after Merton’s death.
Over the years, it has built partnerships with like-minded groups in advocating for a living wage, collective bargaining, just immigration policies, environmental protection, and in
protest against poverty, discrimination, war and police brutality, among other causes.
Many groups have used the center for events and planning sessions, including Veterans for Peace; the Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee, the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Marcellus Protest.
Merton is a member of the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network and Pennsylvanians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
In almost 50 years of activism, the center has thousands of people in its network, Mr. McMorland said. Among all these people and their affiliations, maybe someone knows of a perfect space with an affordable rent or, better yet, a building someone is willing to donate.
Surely solutions for the center’s future abound in this network.
The current building is between 1,500 and 2,000 square feet, with an entire basement devoted to the Book ‘Em program, which sends books to prisoners.
The Merton Center has been at the heart of numerous personal memories. One of the best was in 2016, when I attended the Meet Your Muslim Neighbor potluck dinner, which Merton held with the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh. The snow was flying and the roads were getting bad, but people turned out in overflowing numbers.
“The reason we exist is because of a large community of people connecting with each other and making it possible,” Mr. McMorland said.
“The work we do is regional, but we want to honor the community we’re in, and we don’t want to contribute to gentrification anywhere. It’s important that we are on a transit line and that we are accessible to people with disabilities.
“Help will have to come from people who believe it’s important to have the Merton Center around.”
The Thomas Merton Center is a resource that belongs, by right. It ought to survive by right as an advocate of peace, justice, fairness, inclusion and human dignity.
In a world of lip service and hypocrisy, these values have to be fought for.
The Merton Center will be looking for angels and people on the ground to help its resettlement. Surely with all its allies, it can build a collaboration that advocates, even protests, for its future.