11/23/2021New book by Dr. Greg Hillis asks: How Catholic was Thomas Merton? The Thomas Merton sculpture at Bellarmine University wears a mask to reflect coronavirus protections. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk of Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky, was one of the most significant interdisciplinary Catholic thinkers of the 20th century, recognized by Pope Francis in 2015 as one of the four most spiritually influential voices in American history.