Thomas Merton played a critical role in facilitating and embodying a revolutionary paradigm shift in Catholic life and thought. His public grappling with the issues raised by this shift in the life of the Catholic Church provided a vocabulary with which a generation of seekers has attempted to frame an on-going discussion regarding the future of the Catholic Church. Consequently Merton's life and thought continue to be guideposts for spiritual pilgrims confronting issues of authority in the church, a changing moral landscape and the contemporary crisis in the Catholic Church.