Thomas Francis Ritt was the Director of the Catholic Council on Civil Liberties, headquartered in Lawndale, California. It was a nonprofit organization of Catholic laity. He did a Catholic commentary for KPFK Pacifica Radio in Los Angeles.
John-David Robinson writes from Saint Paul, Minnesota, as editor of «Sun», a magazine of "Visual Theology", discussing liturgy from the visual art standpoint and the theology invoked by visual symbols.
Sr. María de la Victorias de Sta. Teresita Rodríguez was from the Congregation of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament and writes from the Monasterio del Verbo Encarnado y del Santisimo Sacramento from Mexico City, Mexico.
Fr. Ronald Roloff was, at the time of correspondence with Merton, a Benedictine priest at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.
Charles J. Ruff was a realtor from Cincinnati, Ohio. He offers Merton a field dog, an English Springer Spaniel, for his hermitage.
Fr. Carleton Michael Sage writes at first from the Theological College of the Catholic University of America and later from St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland.
Archbishop Tulio Botero Salazar was a Vincentian priest who became Archbishop of Medellín, Colombia.
Phillip Scharper seems to have worked with Frank Sheed at the publisher Sheed and Ward.
Fr. Hilarion Schmock was a Trappist priest from Gethsemani Abbey.
Fr. Luke Schreffer was an Augustinian priest from St. Augustine Monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada.
In 1958, Br. Emmanuel Schuurmans became Abbot of Maria Toevlucht (Mary's Refuge) in Zundert in the Netherlands. He brought about many reforms to his community and Merton discusses with him permission to live the eremitical life and other changes to the Trappist Order.
Rabbi Stephen Schwarzschild was a pacifist rabbi writing from Temple Beth El in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Fr. Sebastian was the editor of «Elias» magazine. He writes from Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa, Israel.
Fr. Seraphim was a Trappist monk from Tilburg Abbey in the Netherlands.
Fr. Dismas Sexton was a Franciscan writing first from the novitiate and later from Saint Joseph Seminary in Teutopolis, Illinois.
With his wife Maisie Ward, Francis Joseph Sheed founded the publishing house of Sheed and Ward in 1926. Sheed was a Roman Catholic theologian and leading apologist of the 20th Century. Born in Australia, he moved to London after his law studies and married Ward in 1926. The following year the established a Roman Catholic publishing house concerned not only with theology but broader issues of literature and culture. In 1933, they founded a New York branch of the publishing company and thenceforth Sheed spent time between the London and New York offices. (Source: "Sheed, F. J." Biography from Current Biography. 1981. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 2006/04/25. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Fr. John B. Sheerin was Paulist priest and editor of «The Catholic World». He writes from New York.
Lawrence Joseph Cardinal Shehan was Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland.
Bob Shepherd was a friend of Merton's from Lexington, Kentucky. He worked in communications and public relations offices at Transylvania College and at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Francis Shih-hao Shieh was an assistant professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Howard Fenimore Shipps was a professor in the Department of Church History at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Swami Shivapremananda is the rector and spiritual master of the Cento Sivananda Yoga-Vedanta in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Meg Shore was a student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and a student of Denise Levertov.
Ambrose Siers was Promotion Manager of the Thomas More Association. He writes from Chicago, Illinois.
Rabbi Lou H. Silberman was a professor from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who came to Gethsemani with Rabbi Zalman Schachter in mid-August 1962 to speak to the novices regarding Hebrew, the Psalms and the Dead Sea scrolls.
Poet Charles Simic was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He came with his family in 1949 to the United States, and they settled in Chicago, Illinois. His college studies began at University of Chicago and then New York University. He finished his undergraduate work at NYU after two years of service in the army. After working as a proofreader for the «Chicago Sun-Times», he spent the late 1960's as an editorial assistant to the photography magazine «Aperture» in New York, where Merton corresponds with him about contributing to «Monks Pond». He would later become a professor of English at the California State College, Hayward, and at the University of New Hampshire, Durham. Since his first published work before writing to Merton, he has published a number books of poetry. (Source: "Simic, Charles" Biography from World Authors 1970-1975. 1980. Online. Biography Reference Bank. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 3 May 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Sr. Lois Marie Simmons was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary from Richmond, Virginia.
Dick Sisto is a jazz vibraphonist and is currently the music director of the Seelbach Bar at the Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. He shared an interest with Merton in Zen Buddhism and currently conducts meditation workshops. His wife, Penny Sisto, is a fabric artist who has created Merton-themed quilts.
Lydia Pasternak Slater was a research chemist from Russia who emigrated first to Germany and later to Great Britain after the Nazi rise to power. She wrote poetry and translated works of her brother, Boris Pasternak.
Fr. Gerard Stephen Sloyan was, at the time of writing to Merton, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has written some texts on theology and morality.
Rev. Glenn Smiley was Associate Executive Secretary for the Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York, at the time of writing. He was a pacifist, prominent in the Civil Rights Movement, and a friend of Martin Luther King, Jr.
E. Gene Smith writes from Seattle, Washington. He was a student of Dezhung Rinpoche, a Buddhist mystic residing in Seattle after exile from his native Tibet.
Susan Smith was a student at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri at the time of writing. Following Merton's correspondence with Barbara Ann Braveman, another member of the staff of the student publication «Free Lance» (also "Freelance"), Smith came to Gethsemani to interview Merton on March 30, 1968 with Sandy Meyer, and students named Sally and Mike (possibly Michael Castro?).
