CHICAGO.- The Loyola University Museum of Art opened the exhibit A Hidden Wholeness: The Zen Photography of Thomas Merton through January 15, 2007. A Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey (Kentucky), Merton was a prolific author who considered race and peace the two most urgent issues of the 20th century. For his social activism Merton endured severe criticism from Catholics and non-Catholics alike, who assailed his political writings as unbecoming of a monk. During his last years, he became deeply interested in Zen Buddhism. A Hidden Wholeness features 35 photographs that reveal Merton's interest in Zen-like subject matter.

Merton wrote over 50 books, scores of essays and reviews, and is the ongoing subject of countless biographies. Merton was also a proponent of ecumenism, engaging in spiritual dialogues with such icons as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and D.T. Suzuki. His career was suddenly cut short at a relatively young age due to an accident when he was electrocuted stepping out of his bath.