From the Editor | May 15, 2026
The Book of Lamentations, then and now, offers a language for grief, fear, and despair.
Julia Upton, RSM
Julia Upton is the editor of The MAST Journal. Provost Emerita and retired Distinguished Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at St John’s University in New York where she taught from 1979 to 2020. She holds a PhD in Contemporary Systematic 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.
The Book of Lamentations, then and now, offers a language for grief, fear, and despair.
Walking with the authors of what I have termed “memoirs of lament,” sensitizes me to their suffering and the suffering of others.
It is not my intention to eulogize Eloise; rather, I propose to give you some insight into this vibrant, committed, passionate Sister of Mercy.
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.