Editing this journal has made me mindful that work like this is never done by an individual alone. I have enjoyed the company and assistance of many to whom I gladly express thanks.
First I wish to thank Robert Giroux, James Laughlin, and Tommie O’Callaghan III, trustees of the Merton Legacy Trust, for appointing me editor of this volume. Together with Anne McCormick, secretary of the Trust, and Abbot Timothy Kelly of the Abbey of Gethsemani, they have offered wise counsel. I also wish to thank Brother Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O., general editor of the Merton Journals, for his confidence and support during every phase of my work. I especially appreciate his patience and his help in deciphering Merton’s sometimes inscrutable handwriting and in decoding Merton’s more obscure references. I am grateful to the editors of Volumes I-V – Brother Patrick, Jonathan Montaldo, Lawrence S. Cunningham, Victor A. Kramer, and Robert E. Daggy – for the fine example of their work and their readiness to share with me their editorial experience.
Special thanks are due to all those who helped me prepare this volume for publication: to Beverly Evans of the State University of New York at Geneseo, Marion Hoctor, SSJ of Nazareth College of Rochester, William H. Shannon and Francis Cecilia English, SSJ of Rochester for assisting in the translation of foreign language passages found in the journal; to Jonathan Montaldo and to Erasmo Levia-Merikakis for their careful transcription and translation of “Notebook 17.” To the staff of the Lorette Wilmot Library of Nazareth College of Rochester, especially to Richard Matzek, Sheila A. Smyth, and Jennifer Burr for making available to me their expertise and the library’s resources; to the staff of the George Arents Research Library, Syracuse University and to Robert E. Daggy of the Thomas Merton Studies Center at Bellarmine College for making archival materials available to me; to Jillian Brown for the enthusiasm and determination with which she tracked down countless citations; to Diane Curley and Anne Wolcott for their skillful typing; to Linda Loree for giving so generously of her time and computer skill in the final stages of manuscript preparation; and to John Loudon, Karen Levine, and Terri Leonard of Harper San Francisco for the care and skill with which they transformed the manuscript into a book.
Members of the Nazareth College community continue to be supportive in numerous ways. I am grateful to Rose Marie Beston, president, and Dennis Silva, vice president for academic affairs, for their generous support of my work; to my colleagues in the Religious Studies Department and other faculty colleagues, especially those in Carroll Hall, for their day-today collegiality and good cheer; and to my students for their curiosity, interest, and insight, which energize my work.
I am especially grateful to my family and friends who listen, ask just the right questions, share wisdom and, sometimes, advice, and support me, in so many loving ways, in my work and my life. For them, I am more thankful than I can say.
I dedicate this volume to three individuals who have worked with indefatigable energy to make the Merton corpus available to readers: Robert E. Daggy, as director of the Thomas Merton Studies Center; Brother Patrick Hart, as general editor of Merton’s journals; and William H. Shannon, as general editor of Merton’s letters. Each, through his work as editor, writer, and mentor, has promoted knowledge and understanding of the life and work of Thomas Merton. Each, in his person, has embodied something of Merton’s expansive spirit. For what they have done and for who they are, I and so many others are deeply grateful.