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James Flanagan objects to Merton's claims in Seeds of Destruction that "In most Catholic Churches of the South, Negro Communicants may only approach the altar rail after all the whites have departed", and that "the converted Negro is still not welcome in every southern Catholic Church" (Seeds of Destruction. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1964; pp. 12 and 59). He agrees with many of the other points Merton makes in this book. Merton apologizes for making the generalization and points to his source of information. He still does not dismiss the racial problems of the South, but thinks it is the job of Southerners (and he includes himself) to fix the problems. The files includes original signed letters from Flanagan (with his legal partners Malvern Driscoll and Melvin Ramos cosigning the first letter), and a carbon copy of Merton's response to the first letter.
James T. Flanagan was an attorney with the law offices of Driscoll, Flanagan and Ramos from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's correspondence.
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. |
1965/01/26 |
TLS to Merton |
I am now reading "Seeds of Destruction". On page 12, you write: "(In most Catholic Churches of the |
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«detailed view» |
| 2. |
1965/02/03 |
TL[c] from Merton |
The letter you sent, signed also by your associates, has been received and carefully read. I think |
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«detailed view» |
| 3. |
1965/02/11 |
TLS to Merton |
Thank you for your letter and your prayers. An answer was not necessary or expected, but was |
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«detailed view» |
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