Jim Douglass is known for his theological writing and his activism in the area of non-violent resistance to war and especially nuclear arms. He was a friend of Daniel Berrigan and Dorothy Day. He served as a theological advisor on conscientious objection and nuclear war at the Second Vatican Council. He first met Merton while a professor at Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.
Paul A. Doyle was teaching in the Department of English at Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York. He and other colleagues were putting together an «Evelyn Waugh Newsletter».
Fr. William H. DuBay was author of the book, «The Human Church». DuBay found himself in fierce disagreement with Cardinal McIntyre over participation in civil rights protests. DuBay advocated Church involvement in the crusade for equal rights by marches and protests, but the Cardinal thought it was not right to be involved in this kind of public display. In 1966, he published his book, which brought to question many of the current hierarchical structures of the Church and advocated priest forming unions. In addition, it addressed the secular versus the Christian ethic. Not having approved the book through the official archdiocesan channels, he was soon forbidden to perform his priestly functions. Merton agreed with DuBay on many of his points, but did not think priests organizing a union would be as effective as informal networks to accomplish the same goals.
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Irene Dunne rose to prominence as a film actress and was known as the "First Lady of Hollywood". She played starring roles alongside Carey Grant among others and was nominated for five Academy Awards, notably «Cimmarron», «The Awful Truth», and «I Remember Mama». She was known as a reserved person who did not like to give interviews. She devoted her later life to charity and served as a special delegate to the United Nations. In 1965, Bellarmine College awarded Dunne with the colleges highest honor, the Bellarmine Medal. Dunne was a Catholic, and Monsignor Horrigan, Bellarmine president, gave her some signed books by Merton. She wrote to him telling how she appreciated them. Merton responded, saying "I in my turn want to thank you for the joy I can remember, in the days when I used to go to the movies, when I used to listen to your lovely voice and enjoy your pictures."
Bill Dwyer was an attorney and one of the original members considered for the Merton Legacy Trust.
Fr. Edmond was a Trappist monk from the Abbey of Achel in Belgium.
Russell Edson is a poet from Connecticut who appeared in Merton's second edition of «Monks Pond».
John Egerton was writing on behalf of the «Southern Education Report».
In Monsignor John Tracy Ellis' biographical note in «The Hidden Ground of Love», William H. Shannon states that "Ellis may well be called the dean of American Catholic historians (The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 174). He was professor at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., while in correspondence with Merton.
Joseph Engelberg is professor emeritus of the School of Medicine at University of Kentucky in Lexington. While writing to Merton, he was an associate professor wrote on behalf of the Committee on Peace Education and Research.
Omer Englebert, originally from Belgium, was the author of biographies of Francis of Assisi, Damien of Molokai, Junípero Serra and others. He writes to Merton from Mexico.
Jack Ericson was special collections curator at the University of Syracuse in New York. He convinced Merton to send some of his papers to their collection of distinguished writers.
Morris L. Ernst was of the well-known New York law firm of Greenbaum, Wolff and Ernst. He was putting together a book of reminiscences of favorite teachers by well-known figures.
Clayton Eshleman is a poet now living in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He was born in Indianapolis in 1935. In college he became interested in world poetry, and learned Spanish in order to read and translate the works of Cesar Vallejo and Pablo Neruda and to . He first wrote to Merton while in Kyoto where he was teaching English, responding to a letter of Merton's printed in «El Corno Emplumado». Later, he met Merton after having returned to Indiana as a professor at University of Indiana. He came for a visit with his wife on April 23, 1965. Eshleman was not very happy in Indiana and moved to Peru later in 1965. Some unfortunate events happened in Peru and he would only stay there a year; however, he became very socially involved after having witness the slums of Lima. He then moved to New York and founded the literary magazine «Caterpillar» in 1967. (Source: "A Brief Biography and Complete CV". Clayton Eshleman website. Accessed 2004/12/06. ‹http://www.claytoneshleman.com/bio.html›.)
Dr. Julio Endara was President of Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana in Quito, Ecuador. Merton inquires about commissioning Jaime Andrade for a sculpture of the Virgin Mary.
Sr. Eulogia was a Franciscan at St. Francis Convent in Joliet, Illinois.
Francis Fabinski was a 10 year old boy who sends a bookmark with a quote from Duns Scotus and asks for a prayer for his confirmation and for his brother who is considering the priesthood.
Marie Faugeron writes on behalf of the «Action Civique Non-Violent» from St-Didier-au-Mt-d'Or in France.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti was editor and publisher of City Lights Books in San Francisco that was one of the most prominent publications of the beat movement in San Francisco. He wrote poetry and plays as well as running a bookstore, City Lights, the same name as the publishing house. Merton and Ferlinghetti met in person in San Francisco on May 16, 1968. (Source: «The Courage for Truth», p. 267.)
Thomas Hornsby Ferril was an acclaimed poet of the Rocky Mountains, born and living the rest of his years in Denver, Colorado.
Sidney Feshbach writes from the Department of English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Art Fillmore, from St. Louis, Missouri, writes to Merton on stationery of the Hotel Tequendama in Bogotá, Colombia.
James Finn was editor of «Worldview» "a journal of religion and international affairs".
Wesley First was director of the office of University Relations at Columbia University in New York.
Robert J. Fitzgibbon was editor of «Family Weekly» and writes from New York.
Fr. Daniel L. Flaherty was a Jesuit priest and book editor for «America» magazine.
Allan Forbes, Jr. was "a documentary filmmaker, writer, and peace activist" who "helped found Council for a Livable World with Leo Szilard, the physicist who worked with the Manhattan Project, then tried to get the US government to promise not to use the atomic bomb against Japan." He writes to Merton from Philadelphia. (Source: Marquard, Bryan. "Allan Forbes; pacifist found direction in war." Obituary from «The Boston Globe», online edition. 24 February 2006. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 4 April 2008. ‹http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2006/02/24/allan_forbes_pacifist_found_direction_in_war/›.)
Anne Ford was an author and publishing executive for Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston, Massachusetts.
Fr. John C. Ford was a Jesuit priest writing from Washington, D.C. He was a professor at a number of universities, including Boston College and Weston College in Massachusetts. He founded the journal «Theological Studies».
A life-long activist for peace, Forest first came into contact with Merton through Dorothy Day while Forest was at the Catholic Worker in New York. He was active in the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and started the Catholic Peace Fellowship (CPF), an affiliate program of FOR, to assist those trying to obtain Conscientious Objector status in 1964. In 1977, Forest assumed the duty of General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) based in the Netherlands.
Seymour "Sy" Freedgood was one of Merton's friends from Columbia University. It was through Freedgood that Merton met the Hindu monk Bramachari, whom Merton describes in «The Seven Storey Mountain». He was one of the Columbia group who had attended Merton's ordination in 1949. Sy Freedgood was later an editor at «Fortune Magazine», and Merton was in contact with his wife, Anne, at Doubleday. He did not seem to settle into a religious tradition, but constantly read and struggled with religion. He wanted to visit Gethsemani in 1964 to dialogue with D. T. Suzuki but it did not come about. In 1967, he arranged a trip to Gethsemani. Merton interpreted a car accident Freedgood had on the way to the monastery as a gloomy portent, and Freedgood would be killed in a house fire the following year. His wit and sense of humor are evident in his arrangement of a shipment of crates of all 57 varieties of Heinz products to be delivered to the monastery to the abbot's shock. He made Merton a member of the Steering Committee of NIPS, the National Institutes of Public Scolds, an organization dedicated to lampooning bureaucratic red tape and causing other mischief. (Sources: «The Road to Joy», p. 123; and The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, pp. 163-164.)
Jerome Fried was an editor for New Directions publishing.
Fr. Richard Friedrich was the Associate Dean of Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.
Horace L. Friess was writing to the Nobel Institute on behalf of Thich Nhat Hanh. Friess was a professor of philosophy and religion at Columbia University.
Marice "Mimi" Gaither was a long time supporter of Gethsemani and often sent money for Mass intentions. She writes from Louisville.
Sara Galbraith writes from Newry, Pennsylvania.
Barry Garfinkel was an attorney from New York with the firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom. Merton's friend John H. Slate had died in September of 1967.
Emilio Garrigues was the Spanish ambassador to Guatemala.
Hugh Garvey was a publisher and editor for Templegate and writes from Springfield, Illinois.
Ann Gates writes from Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Sr. Genevieve of the Eucharist was from a Carmelite monastery in Baltimore, Maryland.
Therese Giahieu writes from Montréal, Quebec, Canada.
Robert Gibney was one of Merton's closest friends from Columbia University. He filed as a conscientious objector for World War II, but was drafted. He married another of Merton's friends after the war, Nancy Flagg, who was a graduate of Smith College in Boston. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, pp. 178-179.)
Tom Giering was a former student of Berea College in Kentucky who had visited Gethsemani. At the time of writing to Merton, he lived in New York.
Br. Matthias Gill was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey. He was also a contributor to the fourth edition of «Monks Pond» (incorrectly listed as Mathias Ginn).
Dom Ignace Gillet was Abbot General of the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) from 1963-1974.
Etienne Gilson was a medieval scholar that was influential in Merton's early conversion to Catholicism while at Columbia University. Especially important to Merton was Gilson's book «The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy». Gilson was educated at the Sorbonne, taught throughout Europe and was later admitted to the Académie Française. He was instrumental in the founding of the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto, where he was at the time of his correspondence with Merton. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 30.)
At the time of writing to Merton, David Glanz was an Editor of the Washington University student publication, «Freelance».
Tommy Glover was a former monk of Gethsemani Abbey, known as Br. Joshua, and one of the few African Americans at the monastery.
Banks O. Godfrey, Jr. writes from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Don Gold writes as Assistant to the Editor of «Holiday» magazine.
Fausto Gomes Romáo writes to Merton from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Denys Gorce writes from Grenade-sur-Adour, France.
Fr. Norbert Gorrissen was a Trappist monk of the monastery of Orval in southern Belgium. He inquires about contemporary problems in monasticism. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 229.)
Gregory Griffin was the son of John Howard Griffin. He did some photographic processing for Merton. He writes from Fort Worth, Texas.
William Grimes spent time as a novice at Gethsemani Abbey under the name Br. Alcuin. He left in the autumn of 1964. Merton and Grimes continued to exchange letters in subsequent years.
Fr. Filiberto Guala was a monk of the Cistercian abbey of Frattocchi which is near Rome. Pope Paul VI, a longtime friend of Guala, commissioned him and his Abbot, Francis Decroix, to write up a "Message of Contemplatives" to present to a Synod of Bishops. Merton and others were asked to contribute and much of Merton's addition was used. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 344.)
Charles Cameron was a 20-year-old student from Christ Church College in Oxford England. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 333.)
Fr. Joseph Canivera was a Trappist monk from the Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont in Belgium.
Marie Cantlon was writing on behalf of Harper and Row, Publishers, from New York.
Fr. J. A. Caraman was writing from Umvukwes, Rhodesia (currently Mvurwi, Zimbabwe).
Arthur Graham Carey was the founder of «The Catholic Art Quarterly», later known as «Good Work».
Harry J. Cargas was writing from the Department of English at Saint Louis University in Missouri. He was the former editor of «Queen's Work», who published Merton's introduction to the Japanese edition of «The Seven Storey Mountain». He was a decorated combat veteran who had become a pacifist and liked Merton's writings on non-violence.
Mother Peter of the Holy Face was a Carmelite nun and Prioress of the community in Louisville, Kentucky.
Fr. Robert B. Pfisterer was a Franciscan priest of the Los Angeles Archdiocese.