Maurice Yenn was a member of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima, a worldwide organization dedicated to spreading the message to the world of the Marian apparition of 1917 at Fatima, Portugal.
John Howard Yoder was a Mennonite theologian whose writings on Christianity, ethics, politics, and opposition to war, were influential throughout the Christian world.
Philip Griggs writes to Merton from Carmichael, California. He later joined the Ramakrishna Vedanta Center in London, England. Between his correspondence in 1965 and 1971, he had taken the name Swami Yogeshananda. He was in his later years the director of the Vedanta Center of Atlanta.
Alfred F. Young was a history professor at Northwestern University. He co-signs the letter with another history professor, Christopher Lasch, of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois.
Bonnie Young was Assistant Curator of the Cloisters of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
At the time of writing, Chris Young was a 13-year-old who was planning to enter a high school seminary and someday wanted to be a Trappist monk. A fan of Merton's writings, he wanted to be a writer himself and sent Merton copies of two pieces he had written.
Peggy Young writes on behalf of Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, in New York.
Marguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist. She sends Merton her book «L'Oeuvre au Noir» in 1968.
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.
John Yungblut is a Quaker scholar and scholar of Jungian psychology. One of his academic aims is arguing for the place of Christian mysticism. He was married to June Yungblut. He writes from the Quaker House (Society of Friends) in Atlanta, Georgia, which he co-directed with his wife, June.
June Yungblut is a Quaker and scholar with graduate degrees from Yale and Emory. Her ancestry with the Society of Friends (Quakers) dates back to Thomas Fitzwater, who came to America aboard the Welcome alongside William Penn. At the time of writing to Merton, she was co-director of the Quaker House in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband John Yungblut. She and her husband were involved in the Civil Rights Movement and were friends of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. June Yungblut attempted to arrange a retreat for Martin Luther King, Jr. at Gethsemani Abbey; however, King was not able to come because of the situation in Memphis which culminated in his assassination. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 635.)
Msgr. Vincent Arthur Yzermans took over as editor of «Our Sunday Visitor» and its affiliate magazine, «The Priest», in the fall of 1967. He was a priest from Minnesota.
Fr. Janko Zagar was a Dominican priest, Prior of St. Albert's College in Oakland, California, and Editor of «Season», a "quarterly on contemporary human problems".
Gordon C. Zahn was a sociologist and pacifist who has written books and articles about peace studies, dissent from war cultures, Catholic dissenters in the Second World War in Germany, and other topics. From 1956-1957, he spent a year under a Fulbright grant at Julius Maximilian University in Würzburg, Germany, to study Catholic dissenters under Hitler. During this time, he discovered the Franz Jägerstätter, an Austrian whose refusal to fight under Nazi rule led him to martyrdom. He writes to Merton from Chicago, where he was a professor at Loyola University. In 1964, he published his book on Jägerstätter entitled, In Solitary Witness. After a professorship at University of Massachusetts in Boston from 1967-1980, he became National Director of Pax Christi USA, part of Pax Christi International, a Catholic peace organization. (Source: «The Hidden Ground of Love», p. 648.)
Gregory Zilboorg was a prominent psychiatrist and convert to Catholicism. Merton obtained a rare permission to leave Gethsemani to hear Gregory Zilboorg lecture at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Merton spoke privately to Zilboorg of his desire for more solitude and to live as a hermit at Gethsemani or to leave if that were not possible. Zilboorg considered his feelings pathological, a message Dom James, Merton's abbot, was happy to hear. It is questionable whether Zilboorg's harsh criticism, some of which may be defended, was unbiased. Merton's pre-monastic interest in Sigmund Freud was rekindled, and Zilboorg may have felt threatened by another prominent Catholic convert writing on the subject. Zilboorg writes to Merton from New York. (Source: The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia, p. 550.)
Vittorio Emanuele Zino writes from New York.
Sr. Jean Zmolek was a School Sister of Notre Dame from Notre Dame Academy in Omaha, Nebraska, at the time of writing to Merton.
At the time of writing to Merton, Robert Zmuda was an 18 year old student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He sent some poems, one of which Merton published in «Monks Pond». After graduation from high school, he planned to go into Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).
Alexandra Zoretkin writes from Washington, D.C.
Vera Zorina (born Eva Brigitta Hartwig) was a dancer and actress born in Berlin in 1917. In 1933, she was discovered in London by representatives of the Ballet Russe, Leonide Massine and Colonel de Basil, who gave her stage name. The Goldwyn Follies in 1938 launched her movie career. She was at one time married to famous ballet choreographer George Balanchine. She writes to Merton under Brigitta Lieberson (the last name was of her second husband, Goddard Lieberson). She sends Merton a recording she did of Hérodiade, but is concerned that it is not appropriate for a monastic audience. Merton expresses his enjoyment in the recording and continues to correspond with Zorina.
Louis Zukofsky was a poet and professor of English, who was born in New York, where he also spent his professional life. His poetry of the 1930's was considered part of the "objectivist" movement and associated with the work of William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound. Later, he was rediscovered by the Black Mountain poets. He is known for the collection of poems, entitled "A", which spanned his whole writing career from the 1920's to the 1970's and was published the year of his death. (Source: "Zukofsky, Louis." World Authors. 1975. Online. H.W. Wilson. Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY. 4 Oct. 2006. ‹http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com›.)