The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

MERTON'S CORRESPONDENCE WITH:
Curns, Eileen

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Descriptive Summary

Record Group: Section A - Correspondence

Dates of materials: 1963-1966

Volume: 12 item(s); 14 pg(s)

Scope and Content

Biography

Merton mentions that Eileen Curns was a papal volunteer in Brazil. After returning from the trip from Brazil, she attempts to publish an account of her trip, delivers speeches, and does typing for Merton. She writes from Waukegan, Illinois.

Usage Guidelines and Restrictions

Related Information and Links

Merton publishes an open letter to her anonymously as "Letter to a Papal Volunteer" in his book Seeds of Destruction (the letter from March 30, 1963). The letter was included with two others in Motive magazine as "Three Letters" (the other two being letters to Paulo Alceu Amoroso Lima ["To a Brazilian Friend"] and to Dorothy Day).

Other Finding Aids

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.
   

Series List

This Record Sub-Group is not divided into Series and is arranged chronologically.

Container List

SeriesDateTypeTo/FromFirst LinesPubFull TextNotes
 1963/03/30 (#01)TAL[d]from MertonI said Mass for you this morning, will do the same Passion Sunday (tomorrow) and Monday and then  [labeled in pen: <u>Letter to a Papal Volunteer</u>] advising Curns on missionary work in Brazil as a papal volunteer - some cultural barriers and suggestions - recommends learning from them as much as teaching - notes to omit section on contacting Jean Goss Meyer and non-violent movement / Communism
 1963/03/30 (#02)TL[x]from MertonThis morning I said Mass for you, will do the same Passion Sunday (tomorrow) and Monday and then  [ <u>Letter to a Papal Volunteer</u>] advising Curns on missionary work in Brazil as a papal volunteer - some cultural barriers and suggestions - recommends learning from them as much as teaching - notes to omit section on contacting Jean Goss Meyer and non-violent movement / Communism
 1964/08/12 TAL[c]from MertonLet me use up the red ribbon and it will also serve as a sign of joy. I really think you did a fine  response to Curns' return from Brazil / suggestions about writing a book about the experience / Merton's favorite Brazilian authors, poets and musicians - problem that North Americans will not understand South Americans until we read Latin American literature and poetry, but "North Americans don't read any poetry"
 1965/05/17 TL[c]from MertonIt was good to get your letter and to learn that Phil Scharper was going to help with your ms.  difficulties in getting first manuscript published / offer to do typing work for Merton - Merton's conventions for notes to typists
 1965/06/28 TL[c]from MertonThanks for the mss of Mystics and Zen Masters, now complete, which arrived this morning.   
 1965/11/29 TAL[c]from MertonI have another insert that needs to go into the Existentialism piece you are typing. It belongs on   
 1966/02/26 TAL[c]from MertonThanks very much indeed for the stencils. They are being run off now and I am sure everything will  on Merton's tone concerning Bonhoeffer and Robinson / on life as a hermit and his pre-eremitical writings on solitude - "Living it, one loses any special desire to make statements about it."
 1966/04/no? HNSfrom MertonGlad to hear you have a new  [handwritten note from Merton addressed "Dear Eileen" on mimeograph of the typescript for Merton's essay, "Apologies to an Unbeliever" - the "Eileen" is likely Curns because it references a typing job and fits the time period she was working for Merton / there is another copy containing the full essay in Sub-Section D.2 under "Apologies to an Unbeliever"]
 1966/10/08 TL[c]from MertonSorry for the delay in getting this check to you. I hope this has not been inconvenient.   
 1966/10/11 TLSto MertonI haven't been able to find any good typists with a little background in the many books and authors  description of three speeches she will deliver to "a heavily conservative Milwaukee audience" / thoughts on "Day of a Stranger" / political situation and instability in Brazil
 1966/12/15 TL[c]from MertonMany thanks for the work, tip top as usual. I was not worried about the delay as there is no wild  Merton has not seen Callahan article in <u>Commonweal</u>, but is skeptical about his idea of a "post-Biblical Christianity"
 undated/no/no other[x]from MertonA thousand thanks for the quick, excellent typing job. I will repay in prayers. A hermit has not  [note on title page of mimeograph of Merton's essay "Peace and Protest", see Sub-Section D.9 for signed and inscribed mimeograph]
        

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