Fr. William McNamara was a Carmelite priest writing on behalf of the Spiritual Life Institute of America (SLIA) in Sedona, Arizona. He has written on the contemplative life and founded Carmelite hermitages in the United States and Canada. (Source: «The School of Charity», p. 281.)
Mary S. McNiff was Assistant to the Librarian of St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts.
Fr. Daniel Meenan was a Jesuit priest and Editor of the «Sacred Heart Messenger», national magazine of the Apostleship of Prayer.
Dom Petrus Balthazar Albertus van der Meer de Walcheren was a Benedictine monk of Beuron Abbey in Germany. He was a friend of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain. Jacques Maritain wrote an introduction for his book «Le Paradis Blanc» about the Carthusians of La Valsainte.
Ernesto Mejía Sánchez was born in Nicaragua and lived his later life as a poet, essayist, literary critic, anthologist, and diplomat in Mexico. He can be placed with the "Generación del 40" and noted alongside other Nicaraguan poets, like Merton's friend Ernesto Cardenal and José Coronel Urtecho.
Marie Tadié, from Paris, France, served as translator and publishing agent for many of Merton's works in French, Spanish and Italian. Relations later became strained between Tadié, on one side, and Merton, his abbey and his American publishers on the other. Tadié tries to leverage exclusive rights to serve as translation and publishing agent for all Merton's books in romance languages. Merton, Gethsemani Abbey, Merton's American publishers, and Naomi Burton Stone were against this idea, and refused her offer. This prompted threats of legal action from Tadié.
Sr. Maria Blanca Olin was a Benedictine nun of the Monastery of St. Benedict (Monestir de Saint Benet) in Montserrat, Spain.
Archbishop Paul Yü Pin, later elevated to Cardinal, was Archbishop of Nanking (Nanjing), China. He was opposed to the Chinese Communist government and was living in Taipei, Taiwan. He had an assignment from the Holy See to re-establish Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan.
Robert Steed was a novice at Gethsemani from 1951-1953, and was known at that time as Br. Corentine. He later joined the Catholic Worker Movement. He writes from New York.
Bishop John Michael Fearns was an auxiliary bishop who served the Archdiocese of New York from 1957 to 1972.
Fr. Joseph E. O'Neill was a Jesuit priest and Editor of «Thought», a quarterly review published at Fordham University in New York.
Leopoldo José Bartolomé was a professor of anthropology at the Universidad Nacional de Misiones in Argentina. He was the author of a book of poetry, «El ojo del can», which he inscribed and sent to Merton in 1965.
Donald J. Casey writes as Executive Editor of «World Campus» from Maryknoll, New York.
Maria Braz Chaves (Maria Therezinha) writes from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Merton wrote her a brief letter of thanks in November of 1966. The letter is not extant but was reproduced for a book by Maria Braz Chaves, «Um Ser Entre Bilhões». The book was published in 1969 and Braz Chaves sends a copy with a note in the book and a separate letter to Dom Flavian Burns, Abbot of Gethsemani Abbey, in memory of Thomas Merton.
Br. De Montfort was a monk of Gethsemani Abbey. He seemed to be assisting Merton in furnishing either Merton's hermitage or one of the either sheds Merton used for prayer. There are also discussions of other little places for other monks to pray in nature but to take shelter from the rain and talk of a small chapel.
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.
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.
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.
James Gribble was Associate Director of the University of Kentucky Libraries at the time of correspondence with Thomas Merton.
Dr. Gerald Groves was a former monk of Gethsemani. He wrote the book «Up and Down Merton's Mountain».
Lorraine Karpowich was Editor-in-chief of the 1964 issues of «Blueprint», a quarterly publication of the National Honor Society of the Academy of the Holy Angels, Fort Lee, New Jersey.
The poet and Catholic convert born Raymond Edward Francis Larsson would write under the pen name Raymond Ellsworth Larsson.
John Lewis is a current member of the U.S. Congress and a leader during the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. He was chairperson of SNCC from 1963-1966.
Maureen Luces, a 19-year old from Brooklyn, New York, wrote to Merton asking advice about whether to become a cloistered Carmelite nun or to enter a missionary order. Merton's answer to her letter is the only extant piece of correspondence. According to her daughter, Luces was later prevented from entering a convent based on racial exclusion, but became a Fullbright Scholar in France and attended the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. She later married and became a member of the Third Order Carmelites.
Paul Cuthbert Metcalf was a novelist associated with the Black Mountain school of the 1950's. He was the great-grandson of Herbert Melville. Brought up in the northeast, he went to Harvard for college but dropped out. His first attempt at writing after this was a failure. According to Metcalf, "[a]round 1940 or so I spent a summer living and studying (and drinking) with the poet Conrad Aiken." He held a number of small jobs after this until in 1945, he contacted tuberculosis. In his recovery in the mountains of northern Georgia, he read voraciously. Soon after, he wrote his first published book, «Will West». He began his association with Black Mountain College with a connection he had gained earlier in life. Charles Olsen had visited Metcalf's family while doing Melville research when Metcalf was 14. Through Olsen, Metcalf met poet Jonathan Williams of the Jargon Society, who became Metcalf's first publisher. It was through Williams that Metcalf was put in touch with Merton about writing for «Monks Pond». Another of Merton's friends, Guy Davenport, became a fan of Metcalf's work. At the time of writing to Merton, Metcalf was selling real estate in Chester, Massachusetts. He express a desire to Merton to get out of this and pursue writing full time. He was able to do this in the late sixties after receiving the inheritance from the death of his parents. By the end of his life, he had published over 20 books. Merton uses a section of his book «Patagoni» about Pre-Columbian South America. (Source: "Metcalf, Paul" World Authors." 1999. Wilson Biographies Plus. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 16 Dec. 2005. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)
Michael "of Melrose" writes from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.
Sr. Mildred was a Benedictine sister of Regina Laudis monastery in Bethlehem, Connecticut.
William J. Miller wrote a plan for the construction of a Cistercian monastery as an undergraduate thesis in architecture at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.
William Robert Miller was Managing Editor of «Fellowship» of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and later took the same role at the «United Church Herald» of the United Church of Christ. It is in this capacity in 1962 in which he writes to Merton to commend him for an article in «Jubilee». By 1964, he writes to Merton as Associate Editor of the Religious Department at Holt, Rinehart and Winston in New York. Miller wrote a number of books about peacemaking, Christian nonviolence, and other related themes.
John Mills was a painter, print-maker, and essayist of art history. He knew Merton's friend in publishing, James Laughlin, and sends Merton an autobiographical poem (not extant with letter).
Dale Moody was, at the time of writing to Merton, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
Roger Moody writes on behalf of the West Campaigners against Factory Farming / West of England Campaign against Factory Farming (WECAFF). He writes from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Monsignor J. P. Moore writes from the Catholic Chapel at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He was the priest who had instructed and baptized Merton at Corpus Christi Church in New York. He visited Gethsemani in November of 1964. Merton notes in his journals that, at the time, Moore had been serving as chaplain at the military academy at West Point for twenty-five years.
Dom Thomas Verner Moore was the founder of a Carthusian charterhouse, the first in the Americas, at Sky Farm (later named the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration) in southern Vermont. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1877. He joined the Paulists in 1896. In 1903, he was granted the first doctorate in psychology in the District of Columbia from Catholic University of America. He was sent to study under one of the pioneers of psychology, Wilhelm Wundt, in Germany, but returned to the United States due to health problems. During the First World War, he changed orders from the Paulists to the English Benedictines at Downside Abbey. He went on to study medicine and earned an M.D. from John Hopkins in 1915. He then opened a children's clinic and taught clinical medical classes at Catholic University, later heading the department. After he retired in 1947, at the age of 70, he became a Carthusian at the Cartuja de Miraflores, in Burgos, Spain. In 1950, he returned to the United States under orders to begin the Sky Farm foundation. (Sources: ["Carthusian Solitude." Time magazine (11 Dec. 1950). Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. «http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814099-2,00.html»]; and [Stafford, John W. "Thomas Verner Moore: 1877-1969." American Journal of Psychology: Vol. 83, No. 2 (June, 1970), pp. 286-288. JSTOR. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 5 May 2008. ‹http://www.jstor.org/stable/1421336›].)
Geoffrey Moorhouse was a journalist on the editorial staff of «The Guardian» in London, England.
María Angustias Moreno Olmedo writes from Granada, Spain. She has published books on the genealogy and heraldry of Granada and a catalog of the archives of the Alhambra.
Dr. Dante J. Morgana, a medical doctor and Benedictine Oblate (Frater Augustinus Morgana), writes from Buffalo, New York. He seems to have spent some time (1961?) as a postulant at Gethsemani Abbey.
Fr. Youakim Moubarac was a professor of Arabic classics at the Institut Catholique de Paris in France.
Paul V. Moynihan was Chief Reference Librarian of Bapst Library at Boston College in Massachusetts.
Joseph Mulloy and his wife, Karen, corresponded with Merton for a number of years. In 1968, it was arranged through a mutual friend for Joseph to meet Merton at Gethsemani. Merton supported Mulloy in seeking Conscientious Objector status for the Vietnam War and wrote a letter to Local Board 47 in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite this, Mulloy was sent to prison. (Source: «The Road to Joy», p. 366.)
Letters from Mumford are addressed from Amenia, New York, but Merton mentions a letter of his written from London. Mumford was a well known architectural critic, urban planner, and commentator of the effects of modern technology on human development. Merton mentions reading some of Mumford's articles and his books «The Myth of the Machine» and «Technics and Civilization».
Kay Murphy was the manager of the Literary Rights Division of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
Fr. Christopher Mwoleka became Bishop of Rulenge in Tanzania in 1969. When he first wrote to Merton in 1967, he explains that he had first read Merton in 1952, and that «Seeds of Contemplation» was an inspiration for him to leave his job as an office clerk and enter seminary. He was ordained in 1962 and would later read a number of Merton's books. Shortly after beginning their correspondence, Mwoleka began teaching at St. Charles Lwanga's Katoke Seminary in Biharamulo.
Allen R. Neff was an English professor at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois. Claire Livingston asked him to send Merton some poems for consideration in «Monks Pond». Merton included his work in volume three of «Monks Pond».
Dorothy Neff writes from Virginia Beach, Virginia, in response to «The Seven Storey Mountain» and «The Sign of Jonas».
Lawrence S. Thompson was Director of the University of Kentucky Libraries at the time of correspondence with Thomas Merton. Merton sent gifts of his manuscripts and other papers for the university's Special Collections and Archives.
Professor Lars Thunberg wrote a book entitled, «Microcosm and Mediator: The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the Confessor».
Fr. Benedict Tighe was a Benedictine monk of Mount Saviour Monastery in Pine City, New York, at the time of writing to Merton. Born Francis James Tighe, he took Benedict in religion. In 1966, he took a sabbatical and served as chaplain on military bases in Europe. He decided not to return to the Benedictines and served the rest of his years as a parish priest in Connecticut. He was honored as a monsignor in 1991 by Pope John Paul II. (Source: "Msgr. Benedict Tighe, served at St. Mary’s". «The Ridgefield Press». Obituaries. Online from Hersam Acorn Newspapers. 17 Oct 2004. Bellarmine University Library. 11 July 2006. ‹http://acorn-online.net/acornonline/obits/tighe.htm›.)
Martin Tucker writes from Brooklyn, New York.
Carlos Tünnermann Bernheim was Rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua in Leon, Nicaragua. He is a lawyer, educator and literary critic.
Fr. Tamás Tüz writes from St. Edward Church in San Diego, California. He was a poet born in Hungary. He spent time in a Russian concentration camp during the Second World War. After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he came first to Canada and then to the United States. At the time of writing to Merton, he had published four books of poetry.
Msgr. Béla Varga was Chairman of the Amnesty for Political Prisoners in Hungary Action Committee in New York. He was a Papal Prelate and former President of the Hungarian Parliament from 1946-1947.
Elisabeth Vester was Secretary of Der Christ in der Welt and writes from Vienna, Austria.
Marjorie Villiers was one of the founders, in 1946, of the Harvill Press with Manya Harari. She writes from London, England.
Sr. Joana Villon-Bras writes from the Abadia de Nossa Senhora das Graças in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Fr. Vincent was a Trappist monk writing from Notre Dame de Sept-Fons Abbey in France.
Sr. Vera Marie of Christ the High Priest (Sr. Vera Lea Virant) was a Carmelite nun from a monastery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
James O. Wade was an editor for the MacMillan Company in New York.
Countess Waldstein writes from Munich, West Germany.
Martha J. van de Walle writes from Belgium.
Arthur Wang writes from New York and was a publisher from Hill and Wang.
Sr. Mary Albert Ward (later going by Sr. Marilyn Ward), is a Religious Sister of Mercy, who was writing from St. Joseph's Convent in Penfield, New York, at the time of correspondence with Merton.
Pamela Ward was secretary to James O. Wade, an editor at the Macmillan Company in New York.
Fr. Gregory Waring was a Cistercian monk writing from Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in Charnwood Forest, near Coalville, Leicestershire, England.
Fr. Youree Watson writes from the Jesuit House of Studies in Mobile, Alabama.
Fr. Mark Weidner was the Novice Master of Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Trappist abbey in Lafayette, Oregon.
Mrs. Robert J. Werner writes from Washington, D.C.
Jan W. Weryho was a long-time cataloguer for the library of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Robert Wesselmann was a priest and Monsignor of Belleville, Illinois, who left the active ministry in 1966 to marry. That year, Wesselmann forwarded to Merton his proposal for "An Experimental Ordinariate" which would consist of priest allowed to marry and continue their ministry, but to abide by certain stipulations, including earning the income to support himself and a family, etc. He moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1967. He was a member of the Canon Law Society of America, serving in leadership positions from 1964-1968.
The Rev. Fr. Paul Wessinger was an Anglican priest of the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Robert F. Whisler writes from Greenbelt, Maryland.
Br. Thomas Whitaker was a Benedictine monk of St. Maur's Priory in South Union, Kentucky. The monastery was unique in the United States as having been established as a racially integrated community when it was founded in 1947 on the grounds of a Shaker village.
Emmett Williams is a poet and a member of the Fluxus movement. He is most known for his concrete poetry. Born in Greenville, South Carolina, he attended Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. After graduation and marriage in 1949, he moved to Europe, where he lived until 1966. He was part of the Darmstadt circle of concrete poetry in Germany. After returning to the United States, he founded Something Else Press in New York. Since then, he had been poet and artist in residence at universities and museums. Besides books of his own poetry, he has been involved in editing, translating and anthologizing poetry for publication. (Source: "Emmett Williams." Contemporary Authors Online. 2005. Literature Resource Center. Thomson Gale. Bellarmine University Lib., Louisville, Kentucky. 8 Sep. 2006 ‹http://galenet.galegroup.com›.)
Janice Wilson was a faculty member from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She appreciated hearing about Amiya Chakravarty's trip to Gethsemani Abbey.
Helen Wolff was a publisher at Pantheon Books, United States publisher of Boris Pasternak's «Dr. Zhivago». Her husband, Kurt Wolff, had established publishing houses in Germany and Italy. They immigrated to the United States in 1941, establishing Pantheon Books. In 1961, they moved to Harcourt Brace in New York, establishing the "Helen and Kurt Wolff Book" imprint. Kurt Wolff died in 1963. Helen continued work at Harcourt Brace until her death in 1994.
Susan Woolfson was an editorial assistant at «Worldview», "a journal of religion and international affairs". She writes from New York.
John Joseph Cardinal Wright was Bishop of Pittsburgh at the time of writing to Merton. During their correspondence in the mid-1960's, the Second Vatican Council was in session, Wright spent much time in Rome. Born in Boston, he became the first bishop of the Worcester diocese after it split from the Springfield, Massachusetts, diocese in 1950. After serving ten years in Pittsburgh, he was elevated to cardinal in 1969 and made the Prefect of Clergy for the Roman Curia.
