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Sr. Mary Egan (known in Merton's correspondence as Sr. Lidwina) was of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Loretto Convent in Guelph, Ontario.

Eileen Egan was a primary figure in the Catholic peace movement. She was a cofounder of the organization American PAX, which became Pax Christi-USA, a branch of the international movement. She worked with and wrote books about Dorothy Day and Mother Theresa of Calcutta. With Dorothy Day, Gordon Zahn, Jim Douglass and Richard Carbrey, she advocated for the strong language against war and in support of conscientious objection in teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

The Rev. George Edwards was a professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1965. He had been a consciencious objector during the Second World War, and, together with Jean Edwards, became leaders in the Louisville peace and justice community, organizing for the local chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Russell Edson is a poet from Connecticut who appeared in Merton's second edition of «Monks Pond».

Sr. Karen Edmund was a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet from Binghamton, New York.

Fr. Edmond was a Trappist monk from the Abbey of Achel in Belgium.

Suzanne Edgell was a teacher with the United States Department of Defense and stationed in the Philippines.

Diana Eck was a student of Amiya Chakravarty at Smith College and writes to express her praise for Merton's book «Gandhi on Non-Violence». Dr. Eck has gone on to earn degrees from the University of London and Harvard and to write books about the religious traditions of India, religious pluralism and Christianity's encounter with other religions.

Bill Dwyer was an attorney and one of the original members considered for the Merton Legacy Trust.

The Most Reverend Robert J. Dwyer was Bishop of Reno, Nevada, at the time of correspondence with Merton. He later became the Archbishop of Portland, Oregon.

Mother Benedict Duss was a Benedictine Abbess of Regina Laudis monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut.

Fr. Dureau, a Dominican priest, writes in 1959 from Stockholm on the letterhead of the publication «Dominikanerna». His 1966 letter is from Paris.

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."

Fr. George Dunne was a Jesuit priest at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

Dom Frederic Dunne was abbot of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Merton's early years at the monastery.

Peter Dunne was executive director of The Temple of Understanding in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded to promote interreligious dialog and to build a center in Washington to facilitate interfaith education (later, programming of educational programs became the sole emphasis and the idea of building a center was abandoned). Merton was invited to speak at the first international conference of the organization in Calcutta and was able to make this a part of his journey to Asia.

Fr. Heinrich Dumoulin was a Jesuit priest, professor at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, and a scholar of the history of Zen Buddhism. In the mid-seventies, he was the founder and first director of the Nanzen Institute for Religion and Culture.

Fr. Charles Dumont was a monk of the Trappist Abbey of Scourmont near Chimay, Belgium. He was editor of «Collectanea Cisterciensia» and helped establish the English counterpart called «Cistercian Studies». (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 66.)

Fr. James Dugan was a Jesuit priest from Weston College in Massachusetts.

Joseph Duffy was publishing director for P. J. Kenedy and Sons publishers in New York.

Professor Eleanor Duckett writes from Northampton, Massachusetts.

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.

Sr. Diane Du Christ was from the Dominican monastery at Dax in southwestern France.

Leon Driskell was in the Department of English faculty at University of Louisville.

Camille Drevet writes from Paris. She was part of Les Amis de Gandhi (Friends of Gandhi), a group founded by Louis Massignon. She was author of the book Par les routes humaines. (Source: «Witness to Freedom», p. 97.)

Teresa Ann Doyle was a Benedictine sister and editor of the «American Benedictine Review», published in Collegeville, Minnesota.

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».

Dom Pierre Doyère was a Benedictine monk of the Abbey of Saint-Paul de Wisques in France.

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.

Jude Patrick Dougherty was writing from Bellarmine College in Louisville, Kentucky.

Bedford Doucette was a former novice of Gethsemani Abbey who was living in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, at the time of correspondence with Thomas Merton.

Merton wrote the foreword to Sally Donnelly's master's thesis at Smith College entitled "Marcel and Buddha : a metaphysics of enlightenment." This later became Merton's essay entitled "Nirvana," which was included in his book «Zen and the Birds of Appetite». Merton's friend and Smith professor Amiya Chakravarty sent it to Merton.

Jim Donnelly was a Maryknoll seminarian at the time of writing.

Mr. Donn (there is no first name mentioned) sent Merton a copy of the quarterly publication «Israel's Anchorage: The Voice of Messianic Judaism».

Professor Filippo Donini was Director of the Institute of Italian Culture at the Italian Embassy in New York.

Ivanhoe Donaldson was working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) while corresponding with Merton. He worked alongside another Merton correspondent from this time, Marion Barry, who would later become mayor of Washington, D.C. He served as an advisor to Barry from the sixties to the eighties and was involved in Jesse Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign.

Fr. Felix Donahue was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani. At the time of correspondence, he was studying in Rome and trying to vote by proxy in the abbatial election to replace Dom James Fox. He would later join the Trappist foundation of Nossa Senhora do Novo Mundo in Brazil.

Pierre Dommerques was an Assistant Professor at the Sorbonne in the Institute of English and American Studies at the time of corresponding with Merton.

Sr. Dolorita was a Sister of Loretto from Nerinx, Kentucky.

Joseph Dolan was administrative assistant to Robert F. Kennedy while Kennedy was serving as a United States Senator from New York.

Irene Dohmen was the editor of a high school newspaper.

Catherine de Hueck Doherty, also referred to as "The Baroness" because of her marriage to Russian noble Baron Boris de Hueck, fled after the Soviet revolution into Canada. Having lost everything, she went from financial struggle and a failed marriage to rebuilding her fortunes by the end of the 1920's. However, wealth did not bring her fulfillment and she decided to give away her money and work among the poor in 1930. She established the first Friendship House in Toronto and later in the 1930's created one in New York's Harlem. After marrying Eddie Doherty in 1943, they founded Madonna House in rural Ontario, a place of retreat and lay apostolate training. Merton heard her speak at St. Bonaventure College while teaching there and felt inspired to come to Harlem and work among the poor in 1941. By the end of that year, he had decided on a vocation as a Trappist at Gethsemani, but remained in touch with Doherty. There is currently a cause for canonization of Doherty. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 3.)

Dorothy Dohen was a sociologist, author and professor at Fordham University in New York.

Fr. Linus was a monk of Gethsemani Abbey writing to Merton while away at studies in Rome.

According to a letter in this file from Br. Patrick Hart, O.C.S.O. dated 2001, Fr. James Dodge (known as Frater Linus while with the Trappists) was a novice with Merton in 1941-1942. He later went to Mepkin Abbey in South Carolina after its founding in 1949. After staying at Mepkin a few years, he left to become a parish priest.

Joe Dobson writes from Yonkers, New York.

Christopher Dixon was editor of «The Oakhamian» in 1954, a magazine about Oakham School in England, where Merton had completed his pre-collegiate education. Merton was editor of the same publication in 1931.

Ray DiPalma is the author of a number of books of poetry. Merton was considering a poem of his for «Monks Pond».

Sr. Irmá Dionísia was writing from Curitiba, Brazil.

Nick D'Incecco writes as director of public relations for Prentice-Hall publishers from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Fr. Anselme Dimier was a Cistercian monk and author, first writing to Merton from the Abbey of Tamié in France and later from the Abbey of Scourmont in Belgium. Much of the discussion concerns a French translation of «The Waters of Siloë».

Dom Willibrord-Christian van Dijk was abbot of the Trappist Abbey of Tilburg in the Netherlands from 1945-1966, during which time he founded the monastery at Rawa Seneng in Indonesia, first visiting in 1952. He returned to Indonesia as superior from 1966-1968, when he had to resign due to an eye disease. He later moved to the Maria Frieden Abbey to live with the Trappistine sisters there in Germany. He regretted having to leave for Germany before Merton could have made it to see him in Asia.

Fr. Leo Diekmann was a Benedictine priest and editor of «Worship», "A review devoted to the Liturgical Apostolate", published at the Liturgical Press of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Besides the subject of liturgical renewal, he wrote to Merton concerning the ecumenical movement and changes to the monastic life after the Second Vatican Council. He was also involved in civil rights marches in the 1960's and had later supported the full ministry of women in the Catholic Church.