Julia Upton, RSM, is the editor of The MAST Journal. Provost Emerita and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St John’s University in New York where she has taught since 1979. She holds a PhD in Theology from Fordham University. She has served as a member of the Liturgical Commission of the Diocese of Brooklyn since 1978 and served two terms (1978–1981 and 2007–2010) as an advisor to the United States National Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Divine Worship. Her most recent book, Worship in Spirit and Truth: The Life and Legacy of H. A. Reinhold, was published by Liturgical Press in 2009.
Consider this epistolary essay subtitled, “A Macaronic Letter,” as a somewhat sardonic reflection on my relationship with Merton—an attempt to grapple with its complexity and my own place in it.