Patrick F. O Connell is professor of English and theology at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. A founding member and former president of the International Thomas Merton Society, he edits "The Merton Seasonal" and is coauthor of "The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia". He has edited seven previous volumes of Thomas Merton s monastic conferences for the Monastic Wisdom Series, most recently" Charter, Customs, and Constitutions of the Cistercians "(2015), and is also editor of Merton s "Selected Essays" (2013) and" Early Essays: 1947 1952" (2015).