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 and poet, Bonnie Thurston is a founding member and past president of the International Thomas Merton Society. She is an ordained minister of the Christian Church.