Thomas Merton (1915-1968) entered the Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, following his conversion to Catholicism and was ordained in 1949. During the 1960s, he was increasingly drawn into a dialogue between Eastern and Western religions and was actively engaged with domestic issues of war and racism.
Scholar Dr. Paul Pearson is the director and archivist at Bellarmine Universityโs Thomas Merton Center in Louisville, Kentucky.