Showing 3503 results

Ira Sandperl was a friend and mentor of Joan Baez and came with her to visit Merton in December of 1966. Sandperl was an authority on Gandhi and co-founded a peace institute with Joan Baez.

A Cypriot by birth, Costas Papademas first writes after meeting Merton at Gethsemani, In 1963, while he was a professor in the Journalism Department of Indiana University in Bloomington. He came with a delegation of journalist from around the world (see a letter to Merton from October, 21, 1963 signed by all the foreign journalists). When unrest broke out in Cyprus in 1964, he returned to his native country. Later, he served as Cyprian ambassador in London and in Washington, D.C.

Charles Stanley Thompson worked for the British National Heath Service. He converted to Catholicism in 1954. He became involved in a peace organization called the Pax Society, which later allied with the Pax Christi International movement. Thompson served as bulletin editor for the British society's «Pax Bulletin» from 1956-1963. He was also chairperson until 1971. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 571.)

Joe Dobson writes from Yonkers, New York.

Ernst Fromm was Director of Livraria AGIR Editóra (Artes, Gráficas, Indústrias, Reunidas, S.A. [AGIR]) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kenneth Seeman Giniger was head of the Layman's National Bible Committee, publisher of "The Catholic Bible in the St. Peter's Edition."

Catherine Hughes seems to have been an editor at Sheed and Ward publishers.

Dorothy Hunt was Assistant Editor of «The Critic», published by the Thomas More Association, Chicago, Illinois.

Philosopher, social critic, and author of books such as his most famous, «Brave New World», Aldous Huxley was born and educated in England and moved to the California in the 1930's. Becoming ever more critical of Western civilization and the dehumanizing character of technology, Huxley became drawn to Eastern philosophy and religion and to mysticism. Merton was influenced early on by Huxley though his book, «Ends and Means». Similar views on technology, Eastern philosophy, and mysticism appear in Merton's thinking, as well. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 436.)

David Ignatow is a poet who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and wrote much about the urban experience. He became a professor teaching at the University of Kentucky, University of Kansas, and later returning to the northeast and Columbia University. Not long before going to Columbia, he was at Vassar College. This was where he was in contact with Merton about poems for «Monks Pond». He also taught a student from Vassar with whom Merton had been corresponding, Nancy Fly Bredenberg.

Born in Vienna in 1926, Ivan Illich was the co-founder of the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He has organized seminars on "Institutional Alternatives in a Technological Society" and trained priest in the culture of Latin America. (Source: The Ivan Illich Archive, ‹http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~ira/illich/biography.html›.)

Grace Ingalls writes on behalf of the United Church Press from Boston, Massachusetts, a ministry of the United Church of Christ.

Homer Jack was a Unitarian Universalist minister and activist for civil rights and peace. He was writing to Merton as Executive Secretary of the group SANE, "A Citizens’ Organization for a Sane World", from 1960-1964.

H. Merrill Jackson was on faculty at the Center for Studies in Education and Development at Harvard University. Two of his letters to Merton bear the letterhead of the Division of Christian Life and Mission with the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. He asks Merton to send reply letters to the Social Change Project of Detroit, Michigan.

Nell L. Jaffe was Assistant to the Director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio.

Br. James was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani.

Although not mentioned directly in the correspondence, Sr. Janet was likely a Sister of Mercy. The verson of Merton's letter to her addresses it to "Sister M. Janet / Holy Innocents Convent" in Brooklyn, New York.

Maria Cooper Janis is daughter of actor Gary Cooper. Janis is a painter, is interested in parapsychology, and has recently written a book about her father and his life off camera. A letter she had sent the year of her father's death is not extant, but there is a copy of Merton's reply. He relates having enjoyed watching Cooper movies before entering the monastery and jokes, "I even had a temptation to hope that if the Seven Storey Mountain became a film, he would play in it. This was a clear case of vanity on my part!!"

The Rev. Elbert Jean was a member of the Committee of Southern Churchmen and a friend of Will Campbell. He recommends that Merton collaborate with the group. He was an advocate for the poor and worked in support of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans. Rev. Jean wrote to Merton from Franklin, Tennessee.

Br. Jerome was a Xaverian brother and part of a community that administered and taught at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky. He asks Merton for guidance in providing direction to a gifted but troubled young member of the community.

Sr. John Maureen writes from Medford, Oregon.

Italian-born Angelo Guiseppe Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope in 1958 taking the name Pope John XXIII. Seen as a transitory pope because he was in his late seventies, he initiated the Second Vatican Council, ushering in the most sweeping changes to the Roman Catholic Church in centuries. In 1960, he sent Merton one of his stoles and a signed photograph. Merton wrote a letter concerning the threat of nuclear war, the war machine in the United States, and Merton's support for the peace movement. Pope John's secretary Monsignor Capovilla expressed that the Holy Father was "impressed" by the letter and pleased by his writings on peace and dialog with Protestants. Bl. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was beatified in 2000. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 481.)

Mrs. Edward M. Johnson writes from Worcester, Massachusetts.

Margaret Johnson was Program Assistant for the Danforth Foundation, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. She was acknowledging Merton's recommendation for the E. Harris Harbison Award for Distinguished Teaching. Merton recommended Bellarmine College professor John H. (Jack) Ford.

Fr. William Johnston is an Irish Jesuit and scholar in the realm of mysticism and the East-West dialog. Since 1951, he has lived in Japan and was a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo while writing to Merton. Since 1967, he has written a number of books on mysticism and the Christian encounter with Zen.

Fr. Placid Jordan was a Benedictine monk of Beuron Abbey in Germany. He had quite a storied past as a journalist. A convert to Catholicism in 1924, Max Jordan was one of the pioneering news reporters for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States. He broke many of the stories concerning Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany in the 1930's and followed the anti-Hitler underground through the duration of World War II. Based on his experiences of the war, Jordan wrote the book «Beyond All Fronts: A Bystander's Notes on This Thirty Years War». After the war, as many of his colleagues rose to prominence, Jordan joined a Swiss congregation of Benedictines at Beuron Abbey in Germany in the year 1954. He took the name Placid. He would again don a journalistic role in covering the Second Vatican Council, working for the news service of the National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC). (Sources: McLeod, Elizabeth. "Max Jordan -- NBC's Forgotten Pioneer". Broadcasting History Resources website. 1998. ‹http://www.midcoast.com/~lizmcl/jordan.html›, accessed 2005/05/06. See also student newspaper clipping in correspondence folder of 1962/01/16.)

Robert Kaiser was a journalist for Time Incorporated and was assigned to Rome for the Second Vatican Council. Personal matters forced him to leave this assignment, but he was planning to write a novel about events associated with the Council. He was trying to arrange a time to visit Merton at Gethsemani in the fall of 1965. In 1968, Kaiser writes on behalf of the National Association of Laymen who were arranging speakers to tour the country and speak on progressive issues concerning the Catholic Church.

Sr. Kassiani writes from a Greek Orthodox convent in Jerusalem.

William A. Katz is a professor at the State University of New York at Albany in the Library Science department (now the School of Information Science and Policy). He was compiling an annotated list of periodicals and asked Merton's help with small press periodicals.

Fr. Bernard Kaul was a Cistercian monk writing from Hauterive Abbey, Switzerland.

Theodore J. Kavouras writes from Cleveland, Ohio.

Archimandrite Basil Kazan was pastor of St. Michael's Eastern Orthodox Church in Louisville, Kentucky, at the time of writing. Kazan was a composer of sacred music. He visited Merton at Gethsemani, and Merton told him that he planned to write an articles about Kazan's music for the Catholic magazine «Jubilee».

Fr. Daniel José Keegan was a priest of a minor seminary in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Fr. Innocent Keith seems to have been a Trappist monk of Gethsemani and librarian there for a time. Merton sends him recommendations on what he thinks should be purchased for the monastic library.

Born in Minnesota, Ralph Keithahn began as a missionary and social worker in 1925. He was influenced by Gandhi and the movement for the Indian national movement. He later cut ties with the missionary societies of the United States, adopted traditional Indian garb, and lived in an ashram in South India. A contemporary of Bede Griffiths, he similarly drew on both Christian monasticism and the ashram tradition of India. He was a Benedictine oblate when he died. He writes to Merton from the Sarvodaya Ashram.

Frances Kelley was an acquisitions librarian with the King Library at University of Kentucky in Lexington. She writes to provide an address for Merton to send his small press literary magazine «Monks Pond».

At the time of writing, Patricia Kelly was a woman in her twenties from Chicago, Illinois. She asks Merton for some advice on some very personal matters of religion.

Fr. James William Kennedy was Director and Editor of Forward Movement Publications, an official agency of the Episcopal Church, USA.

Fr. Colum Kenny was a Dominican priest writing from Saint Rose Priory in Dubuque, Iowa.

Donald Keys was Director of Communication for the International Center for Integrative Studies (ICIS), who published «Forum» (or "Forum for Correspondence and Contact"). Merton's friend Amiya Chakravarty was on the Board of Sponsors.

Fr. Robert Kiely was a Trappist monk from Southern Star Abbey in Kopua, New Zealand.

While David Kilburn was studying in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham in England. He wanted to use some of Merton's poetry for the departmental magazine he edited, «Retort». He later moved to London and worked with the literary magazine «Ambit».

Fr. Thomas Kilduff writes on behalf of «Spiritual Life: A Catholic Quarterly», published by the Discalced Carmelite Fathers.

Fr. Paul Kim writes from Seoul, South Korea.

Grayson Kirk was President of Columbia University from 1953-1968. He was also a highly acclaimed figure in the study of political science.

Carl L. Kline, M.D., was a doctor serving in Wausau, Wisconsin, when he wrote this letter to Merton.

Janina Kolendo was Chief Editor of «Pax» from the Instytut Wydawncizy of Poland, a Catholic publishing house.

Bishop Rembert Casimir Kowalski was an American-born Franciscan who was later ordained a bishop of Wuchang, China.

Giorgio La Pira was an Italian politician who was twice mayor of Florence and served as deputy of the Christian Democrats. He was serious about his Catholic faith and was in the Third Order of Saint Dominic. He brought his values to his political life and campaigned for peace and against atomic weapons. He has a cause for sainthood and was declared "venerable" by Pope Francis in 2018.

Janet Labuda was a 15-year-old student from St. Joseph's High School in Brooklyn, New York. She asks Merton's help in filling in some biographical details of his life for a term paper she is writing on him.

Ripu Daman Lama was studying engineering in Cracow, Poland, but was originally from India. He developed an interest in Christianity after becoming acquainted with the Catholic Intellectuals Club and soon was introduced to Merton's writings.

Fr. Matthew Lamb was a Trappist monk of Holy Spirit Monastery in Conyers, Georgia. He was writing from Monte Cistello in Rome. He was asking Merton to send a copy of «Seeds of Destruction» to his younger brother, who was a conscientious objector.

Mr. Lamb seems to have been a curator with the Sterling Galleries in Palo Alto, California, where Merton hoped to exhibit some of his drawings.

Fr. Lambert was a Carmelite priest at St. Joseph's Pontifical Seminary-Carmelgiri in Alwaye, India.