“With the death of Thomas Merton, we lost really one of the great Catholic voices, one of the great prophetic figures within the Catholic Church. And I think that’s why his books are still selling, why they’re still being translated because that message is as relevant today as when he wrote it,” says Dr. Paul Pearson who oversees the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. More →

January 30, 2015

Brother Paul Quenon, who was inspired to write by his mentor Thomas Merton, says “the purpose of the monastic life in the modern world is to show that we don’t need a purpose. The purpose of life is life.” More →

May 6, 2011

Read four poems by Brother Paul Quenon, who entered the Abbey of Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky, in 1958. More →

May 6, 2011

An acclaimed new movie shows that a monastery is “at once a refuge and a very integral part of the world,” says Jesuit priest James Martin, and that “the life of faith is not without doubt.” More →

April 8, 2011

The much-praised French film “Of Gods and Men” dramatizes the essence of universal Christian love, according to the author of the book on which the movie is based. More →

April 8, 2011

Read more of Judy Valente’s interview about Thomas Merton with Brother Paul Quenon at Gethsemani Abbey: Q: Describe for me what you think is the essence of the Trappist life. A: Well, the essence of the Trappist life would be … More →

June 4, 2009

R & E takes a look at the life of a Trappist monk at Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina. “It’s a life of transformation. It’s about a person becoming more like Christ,” says Father Aelred Hagen. More →

February 21, 2003