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Fr. Denys Rackley was a Carthusian monk of La Grande Chartreuse in southern France.

Fr. Gantana Raciti was a monk of the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Orval in Belgium.

Sandy Rabeck writes from the Contract and Copyright Department of Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishers from New York.

Patrick Quinn was an associate professor of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

Fr. John J. Quinn was a Jesuit priest and advisor for the student literary magazine, «Esprit», from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.

Br. Paul Quenon is a Trappist monk of Gethsemani. He composed some hymns and music for the Liturgy of the Hours, which he shared with Merton. In his years at the monastery, he has publish some of his poetry and photographs.

Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo writes from Milan, Italy. His lyrical poetry earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959.

David Quartley was a classmate of Merton's at Oakham School in England. He was visiting the United States in 1968, and wanted to know whether he could visit Merton en route between Chicago, Illinois, and Charlotte, North Carolina, in September. Quartley worked for the Industrial Products Division of the Singer Sewing Machine Company in London, England. There is no reply; however, Merton would have been gone on his journey to the West coast by this time.

Br. Thomas Qualey writes from the Christian Brothers' Scholasticate in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Ron Punnett (who went under the pen name of Ronald Anthony Punnét), was a black poet born in Trinidad. He was a British citizen but was serving in the United States army and was stationed at Fr. Benning, Georgia. He had been writing poetry for about five years and had, previous to military service, served as poetry editor to the «Ninth Circle» in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He wrote at the suggestion of Keith Wilson, and Merton published some of his poems in the second volume of «Monks Pond». Carlos Reyes published some of his poetry under his Wine Press, a small press from Portland, Oregon, along with poets Richard Morris, Kenneth Brewer, Halvard Johnson, Peter Wild, and David Tammer.

Adele Pullman writes from Mayfield, Pennsylvania.

Sr. Prisca was a Benedictine nun of Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut, but was not bound to the enclosure at the time of writing. She and another sister visited the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in New Gloucester, Maine.

Rod Prince writes from «Peace News» from London, England.

Raymond H. Prince was a professor of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He was the editor of the R. M. Bucke Memorial Society Newsletter, which discussed the intersection of religion and psychiatry and trends of the time such as psychotropic, "mind-expanding", drugs and the similarities and differences between these "trips" and mystical religious experience. He became Director of the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry and editor of «Transcultural Psychiatry Research Review». They first came into contact through Linda Parsons (now Linda Sabbath). (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», pp. 492-493.)

Fr. Neil Predovich was a Jesuit priest and Director of Novices for the Detroit province. He writes from Colombiere College in Clarkston, Michigan. He wrote a small book called «The Changing Religious», which he sends to Merton.

Eugene J. Prakapas was vice president and senior editor for Simon and Schuster in New York.

Samuel Prager writes from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in a scathing reply to Merton's "Apologies to an Unbeliever" from the November 1966 edition of «Harper's Magazine».

J. F. Powers (who signs Jim Powers in his letters to Merton) was an novelist and author of short stories. He was from St. Cloud, Minnesota. The Midwest and Catholicism are a common backdrop for his stories, often telling tales of priests caught between idealism and the realities of parish life. From the 1950's to the mid-1970's, he and his family lived part time in Wicklow, Ireland. (Source: "Powers, J. F." Obituary from Current Biography. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine Library, Louisville, KY. 10 Feb. 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)

At the time of writing to Merton, Sr. Mary James Power, SSND, was principal and a teacher at Girls Catholic High School in Malden, Massachusetts. She also served as secondary schools supervisor for the School Sisters of Notre Dame, New England Province. She wrote two books, «Poets at Prayer» (1938) and «In the Name of the Bee: The significance of Emily Dickinson» (1943), as well as making important contributions to scholarly publications. (Biographical information courtesy of research conducted by John Collins.)

The poet Clarence Poulin wrote to Merton from Penacook, New Hampshire.

Fr. Alexius T. Portz was the founding director of the St. John's University Institude for Mental Health in Collegeville, Minnesota.

Fr. Thomas Aquinas Porter was one of the Cistercian censors that needed to approve Merton's writings before publication. He writes from Holy Trinity Abbey in Huntsville, Utah.

Arabel J. Porter was senior editor of the New American Library (NAL), publishers of the various Signet series among others.

Dom Jean Baptiste Porion was a French Carthusian monk of Le Grande Chartreuse, who later served as Procurator General for the Carthusians in Rome, Italy.

Richard M. Pope was a professor of church history at the College of the Bible, later Lexington Theological Seminary, in Lexington, Kentucky. He and some of his students came to visit Merton at Gethsemani, and Merton lectured on monasticism.

Fr. Alfred Pooler was a Passionist priest that helped in the early years of the Thomas Merton Center in contacting people who had been in correspondence with Thomas Merton.

Joseph Polansky writes from St. Anthony's Church in Pollansbee, West Virginia.

Leslie M. Pockell was articles editor for «Avant-Garde» magazine and writes from New York.

Fr. Thomas Plassmann was a Franciscan priest and President of St. Bonaventure College in New York.

Allen Planz and Carl Larsen were editing an anthology of poems concerning race and civil rights in the United States. They ask for Merton's contributions. Allen Planz writes from New York.

Br. M. Placid was a Trappist monk of the Southern Star Abbey in Kopua, New Zealand. He asks Merton some questions regarding monastic formation, solitude, Dechanet's book on yoga, and the "Prayer of Jesus.

Mara Ann Pinto was a high school student from South Euclid, Ohio, who had recently read «The Seven Storey Mountain». She mentions her initial "aversion to reading books by priests and nuns"; however, she was glad to have read the book and mentions its profound effect on her.

Roscoe M. Pierson was librarian of the Bosworth Memorial Library at the College of the Bible (later known as Lexington Theological Seminary, Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, Kentucky.