William J. Schickel was the architect and liturgical consultant for the renovation of Gethsemani Abbey's church and cloister. Schickel was living in Loveland, Ohio, at the time of this correspondence.
The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Joseph E. Schieder was Director of the Youth Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. He writes from Washington, D.C.
Fr. Mario Schierano writes to Merton from the Sacra Paenitentiaria Apostolica, Officium de Indulgentiis, in Italy. It seems to be granting Merton some sort of indulgence. Schierano was a priest of Turin, Italy, who in 1971 became the archbishop of Italy's military.
William G. Schlecht writes from the Washington Friends of Buddhism in Washington, D.C.
Bruno P. Schlesinger was a professor at St. Mary's College in Indiana. Born in Austria, Schlesinger was a Jewish convert to Catholicism who came to Indiana in the late 1930's and earned a doctorate from Notre Dame. He began at Saint Mary's in 1945. Schlesinger helped found the Christian Culture Program, based on concepts by historian Christopher Dawson, to study unifying principles in the liberal arts through the lens of Christian humanism and the development of Western culture through Christianity's historical roots. Saint Mary's is a women's college, and Merton writes that "women are perhaps capable of salvaging something of humanity in our world today. Certainly they have a better chance of grasping and understanding and preserving a sense of Christian culture" (Merton, Thomas. Letter to Bruno Schlesinger. December, 13, 1961.) An informational booklet for the program quoted Merton's comments. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 541.)
Br. Richard Schmidlen was a Trappist monk of Gethsemani Abbey.
Mary Ann Schmidt was a typist for Merton living in Washington, D.C.
Fr. Hilarion Schmock was a Trappist priest from Gethsemani Abbey.
The Rev. Dr. Howard Schomer was a Congregationalist minister and President of Chicago Theological Seminary. He was a Delegated Observer of the Second Vatican Council, representing the International Congregational Council. He was an anti-war activist and took part in some of the Civil Rights Movement's demonstrations with Martin Luther King, Jr.
It is unclear from the correspondence, but it seems Emily Schossberger may have worked for the publishing firm of New Directions.
Webster Schott was Editorial Director of Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, Missouri.
August Schou was President of the Nobel Prize Committee at the time of this correspondence.
Fr. Luke Schreffer was an Augustinian priest from St. Augustine Monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Mother M. L. Schroen was a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Manhattanville and writes from the General Headquarters in Rome, Italy.
James Schulte was a senior at Saint Louis University at the time of correspondence with Merton. He writes from St. Louis, Missouri.
Clarence W. Schultz worked at the News Publishing Company of Tell City, Indiana.
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.
Donna Scolastica seems to have been a Camaldolese abbess.
David H. Scott was Religious Book Editor of the Trade Book Department of McGraw-Hill Book Company. He writes from New York.
The Rev. John Whitman Sears was a psychologist and Universalist minister. He was born in Lawrence, Kansas, but moved with his family to California. He returned to the University of Kansas for college and was afterward ordained a minister. His ministry led him to North Carolina and back to Kansas where he left the ministry for social work. During the Great Depression, he moved with his family to San Carlos, California, studying psychology. He later moved to San Mateo where he joined his brother in a business of counseling and psychology, and from there he writes to Merton. (Source: "In Memoriam: Unitarian Universalist Ministers 2000-2001." Website of the Unitarian Universalist Association. Accessed 21 April 2006. ‹http://www.uua.org/programs/ministry/news/obituaries2001.html›.)
Fr. Sebastian was the editor of «Elias» magazine. He writes from Stella Maris Monastery in Haifa, Israel.
Ernesto Seguny writes on behalf of the Conferencia Episcopal Argentina in Buenos Aires.
Sr. Helen Jean Seidel was the Mistress of Novices for the Sisters of Loretto at their motherhouse in Nerinx, Kentucky, at the time of writing.
Fr. Léon Seiller writes from France.
Ron Seitz was a poet, author and essayist and a former professor of creative writing at University of Louisville and Bellarmine University. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but traveled extensively as a young man and took a variety of different jobs before returning to Louisville.
David R. Semon was a 27-year-old college sophomore at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio.
Sr. Seraphim of the Holy Spirit was a Carmelite nun and prioress of the Carmel of Mary Immaculate and St. Joseph in Louisville, Kentucky.
Fr. Seraphim was a Trappist monk from Tilburg Abbey in the Netherlands.
Fr. Brocard Sewell (baptized Michael Sewell - Brocard being his religious name) was a Carmelite friar and editor of «The Aylesford Review» at his home at Aylesford Priory in Kent, England. Though born into an Anglican family, his father was involved in the Oxford Movement and Sewell became a Catholic while still a youth. Throughout his life, he maintained an interest in Anglican-Catholic dialogue. While a young man, he became involved with G. K. Chesterton's distributist movement and «G. K.'s Weekly». Similar to Merton and the Franciscans, Sewell was rejected from the Dominicans. Also like Merton, he attempted joining a contemplative order. His first attempt to enter the Carmelites failed in 1937. Though he was a pacifist, or essentially so, he served as a map specialist during the Second World War for the British. In 1952, he applied for entry with the Carmelites at Aylesford and was, this time, allowed to join. It is from Aylesford that Sewell writes Merton. Merton contributed to «The Aylesford Review». Sewell would later live in various other Carmelite monasteries. (Source: McGreal, Wilfred. "Obituary of Fr. Brocard Sewell, 0.Carm." Website of the British Province of Carmelites. Accessed 2006 April 24. ‹http://www.carmelite.org/obit/bs_obituary.html›.)
Fr. Dismas Sexton was a Franciscan writing first from the novitiate and later from Saint Joseph Seminary in Teutopolis, Illinois.
H. J. Shandrewsmith writes from Pittsburgh. He sends poems to Merton by Oscar Gibson, his brother-in-law.
Robert D. Sharp served in a number of missions in the military in the Second World War. He sends his mission card to Merton, detailing 35 missions from 1944-1945. He read Merton's letter in the April 2, 1965 issue of «Commonweal» and said that he "wept over the part I played in that war."
Clifford Shaw was a composer living in Louisville, Kentucky. He discussed setting some of Thomas Merton's poems to music.
In 1962, Dan Shay was a 34-year-old carpenter's apprentice, a member of a number of Catholic organizations, and a conscientious objector from St. Louis, Missouri.
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›.)
Wilfred Sheed was Book Review Editor for «The Commonweal» and writes from New York. He was the son of Frank Sheed and Maisie Ward (Sheed and Ward publishers). He developed a style of prose influenced by his trans-Atlantic upbringing, born in London and spending much time in New York. After work at such Catholic publications as «The Commonweal» and «Jubilee», he became an essayist, novelist and short story writer. (Source: "Sheed, Wilfrid" 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.
Jane M. Sheets writes from Princeton, New Jersey and later from Haverford, Pennsylvania. She did a study of Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa and thanks Merton for his translations and commentary on Pessoa.
Lawrence Joseph Cardinal Shehan was Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland.
Maynard Shelly was editor of «The Mennonite», the weekly publication of the General Conference Mennonite Church. He published Merton's poem, "Chant to Be Used in Processions around a Site with Furnaces," in the November 21, 1961 issue of «The Mennonite». Maynard visited Merton at Gethsemani in August of 1962 and wrote an editorial in «The Mennonite» about his visit.
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.
Richard E. Sherrell was Managing Editor of «The Christian Scholar», a publication of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.