This is a file in the correspondence of Thomas Merton under the heading: "McDonnell, Thomas P.".
Thomas P. McDonnell was a staff writer for The Pilot, a publication of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts. He often wrote book reviews about Merton's books, edited A Thomas Merton Reader, and interviewed Merton for Motive, a magazine affiliated with the Methodist Student Movement. McDonnell often sent Merton other reviews and articles he had written for The Pilot and other publications.
See also the "Stiles, B. J." file; and see also Cold War Letters #62 and #64 published in Witness to Freedom, pp. 47-48.
If the person in correspondence with Merton has full text records in the Merton Center Digital Collections, there will be a numeric link to them below.
This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.
Click icons for links: ✓="Published | Library Record", ✉="Scanned" | 🗷="Scanned, Viewable Only at Merton Center"
# | Date | From/To | First Lines | Pub ✓ | Notes |
| y/m/d | Merton | | Scan ✉ | |
1. |
1961/11/09 |
TLS to Merton |
I had hoped, after shortly returning home -- and especially after receiving the Preface -- to write |
|
«detailed view» |
2. |
1961/11/27 |
TLS to Merton |
It was not until very recently that I came upon the "only copy" you loaned me of Trappist |
|
«detailed view» |
3. |
1962/03/28 |
transcript from Merton |
I owe you once again, five or six letters. Thanks for the most recent one which did not strike me |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #62 - transcript from bound set]
«detailed view» |
4. |
1962/04/no? |
transcript from Merton |
Thanks for your good letter and the enclosures. And for the previous one which I do not think |
✓ |
[Cold War Letters #64 - transcript from bound set]
«detailed view» |
5. |
1962/05/26 |
TALS[x] from Merton |
Quick answers: 1) Better Wisdom of Emptiness than Theology of Creativity. You can use your |
|
«detailed view» |
6. |
1963/01/11 |
TAL[c] from Merton |
I have come out of the Christmas whirl with a bout of flu and am buried under unanswered letters, |
|
«detailed view» |
7. |
1963/02/08 |
TAL[c] from Merton |
Good to hear from you and to have the Dumpulin bk. Paul Peachey, the Mennonite who translated it, |
|
«detailed view» |
8. |
1964/07/27 |
TLS to Merton |
Enclosed see column I did last week. A couple of reference notes: Roxbury is Boston's Harlem; |
|
«detailed view» |
9. |
1964/08/03 |
TLS to Merton |
Perhaps your novices--to say nothing of yourself--might like to see the enclosed items of possible |
|
«detailed view» |
10. |
1964/08/12 |
TLS to Merton |
Listen, for several years now I've been quite taken with Leopold Senghor, both the man and his |
|
«detailed view» |
11. |
1964/09/03 |
TAL[c] from Merton |
I am swimming in a pile of unanswered letters and this does not make for coolness or good sense, |
|
«detailed view» |
12. |
1965/04/13 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
Oh, good grief, Merton finally made it -- in the 10 x 13½ pages of HOLIDAY! And, collector's item |
|
«detailed view» |
13. |
1965/04/13 (#02) |
TLS to Merton |
PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS: Just an addnote. Mary Stack McNiff this past minute |
|
«detailed view» |
14. |
1965/04/24 |
TL[c] from Merton |
I know. Its just that I am sandbagged with mail and at this point I am answering somewhat less than |
|
«detailed view» |
15. |
1965/05/14 |
TLS to Merton |
See the paragraph on "Rain & Rhinoceros" in Tangents column, page 4. |
|
«detailed view» |
16. |
1965/12/14 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
I had been asked by The Boston Globe, some weeks ago, to review Seasons of Celebration |
|
«detailed view» |
17. |
1965/12/14 (#02) |
other to Merton |
TANGENTS [-] Robert Lowell and Chekhov's Gun on the Wall [-] After ROBERT LOWELL'S reading |
|
[1965/12/11 article from The Pilot of Boston, Massachusetts]
«detailed view» |
18. |
1965/12/14 (#03) |
other to Merton |
SEASONS OF CELEBRATION, by Thomas Merton. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 248 pp. $4.95. |
|
[book review by McDonnell of Seasons of Celebration - McDonnell writes very negatively about this book and does not think it is up to the quality of Merton's other books]
«detailed view» |
19. |
1965/12/17 |
TL[c] from Merton |
I have no objections whatever to your review. You are perfectly entitled to your opinion |
|
«detailed view» |
20. |
1966/07/22 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
I thought you might be amused to see our this week's "Tangents" in The Pilot. |
|
«detailed view» |
21. |
1966/07/22 (#02) |
other to Merton |
TANGENTS [-] The Church Mouse That Almost Roared [-] By THOMAS P. McDONNELL [-] (PILOT Staff |
|
[1966/07/23 article from The Pilot of Boston, Massachusetts]
«detailed view» |
22. |
1966/11/28 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
The enclosed, as you will note, is from the Sunday edition of The Boston Globe. The typos are |
|
«detailed view» |
23. |
1966/11/28 (#02) |
other to Merton |
Thomas Merton Today [-] CONJECTURES OF A GUILTY BYSTANDER, By Thomas Merton; |
|
[1966/11/27 book review from the Boston Globe by Thomas P. McDonnell]
«detailed view» |
24. |
1967/01/11 |
TLS to Merton |
Thanks very, very much for the ND 19--marvelous stuff in it, especially of course the Alberti, |
|
«detailed view» |
25. |
1967/01/16 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Thanks for your very good letter of the 11th, and your column on the Christmas shopping which |
|
«detailed view» |
26. |
1967/03/06 |
TLS to Merton |
Here are the Qs for the dialog project. I suppose that I am more in them than I ought to be. |
|
«detailed view» |
27. |
1967/03/12 (#01) |
TL[c] from Merton |
Your questions are first rate. The answers are in the works. I hope to get them off to you by |
|
«detailed view» |
28. |
1967/03/12 (#02) |
other |
I [-] Let's start with The Seven Storey Mountain, Father Louis, because I have the more than |
|
[typescript of McDonnell's original questions to Merton and Merton's original handwritten responses (later both the questions and the responses were changed)]
«detailed view» |
29. |
1967/03/13 |
TLS to Merton |
Sorry to hear about the elbow. At least this may keep you from hoisting all those beers that you |
|
«detailed view» |
30. |
1967/03/15 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
Big snowstorm screaming in Boston now (at the office--outside, that is) so I want to get this off |
|
«detailed view» |
31. |
1967/03/15 (#02) |
other to Merton |
Books MTW....A.M. STRESSES IN THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM, by Stephen Sandy. Houghton Mifflin |
|
[book review by McDonnell sent to Merton]
«detailed view» |
32. |
1967/03/20 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Your revised questions are fine: they have much more bite. Unfortunately when I got them I had |
|
«detailed view» |
33. |
1967/04/10 |
TLS to Merton |
Well, here it is. And really, TM, I think it's a pretty good job all around. I tried to correlate |
|
«detailed view» |
34. |
1967/04/14 |
TL[c] from Merton |
I really think that this conversation shaped up very nicely indeed. So let's go. Since it is |
|
«detailed view» |
35. |
1967/04/24 |
TALS to Merton |
Yes, that's a real unwelcome lump--the "next year" deal. I had already sent BJS the ms. last Friday |
|
«detailed view» |
36. |
1967/04/28 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Thanks for your of the 24. By all means I think it would be too much to hold the interview another |
|
«detailed view» |
37. |
1967/05/18 |
TLS to Merton |
I guess (see enclosed) that B.J. Stiles is pretty well hooked on the interview piece, and that there |
|
«detailed view» |
38. |
1967/05/20 (#01) |
TL[c] from Merton |
I am glad of Stile's reaction: very good. Actually, Motive is the best possible place |
|
«detailed view» |
39. |
1967/05/20 (#02) |
TL[c] from Merton to B. J. Stiles |
Tom McDonnell has forwarded to me your good positive reaction to the interview and I am happy about |
|
«detailed view» |
40. |
1967/05/26 |
TLS to Merton |
These are the carbons of the submitted version to JBStiles of MOTIVE. I've made Xerox copies |
|
«detailed view» |
41. |
1967/06/27 |
TLS to Merton |
How's the Gethsemani countryside these days of earliest summer...the corn apears [sic] inching |
|
«detailed view» |
42. |
1967/06/30 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Thanks for the Voznesensky poems: I like him a lot. I understand the best translation of him |
|
«detailed view» |
43. |
1967/07/21 (#01) |
TLS to Merton |
A couple of recent columns. The 7/8 one drew some response--for instance, Fr. Richard Butler, O.P. |
|
«detailed view» |
44. |
1967/07/21 (#02) |
other to Merton |
Bless Me, Father-- For I Have What? By THOMAS P. McDONNELL [-] (PILOT Staff Writer) |
|
[1967/07/08 article from The Pilot]
«detailed view» |
45. |
1967/07/21 (#03) |
other to Merton |
The Decline & Fall Of Socratic Dialog [-] By THOMAS P. McDONNELL [-] (PILOT Staff Writer) |
|
«detailed view» |
46. |
1967/08/09 |
TLS to Merton |
Please note this page from New Zealand Tablet, by one Malcolm Muggeridge, whom you may |
|
«detailed view» |
47. |
1967/08/11 |
TL[c] from Merton |
Thank for your letter and the clippings. And for the tip off about Fr Clifford Stevens. |
|
«detailed view» |
48. |
1967/10/no |
other[x] |
motive [-] October 1967 [-] Sixty Cents |
|
[photocopy of McDonnell's interview with Merton as published in Motive]
«detailed view» |
49. |
undated/no/no |
other from Merton |
ANSWERS TO T. MCDONNELL. [-] I- Yes, I'll accept "The Seven Storey Mountain" as a point |
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[typescript of Merton's answers to McDonnell for Motive]
«detailed view» |
|