|
Thomas Merton responds to a letter, not extant, from Eleanor Sibley Riley. Mrs. Riley seems to be writing to take issue with the protrayal of Zion Episcopal Church of Douglaston, Long Island, and of her husband, the Rev. Dr. Lester Leake Riley, in Merton's autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Merton offers an apology and some explanation for his comments.
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. |
1948/10/25 |
TLS[x] from Merton |
Thank you for your letter, which is a beautiful one and fairer than my book. |
|
«detailed view» |
| 2. |
1999/09/04 |
HLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick Holtkamp |
Having seen in your Zion news that you are having some kind of Thos Merton day, I thought |
|
[from Elizabeth Sites, daughter of Riley, to the Rev. Patrick J. Holtkamp, Rector of Zion Episcopal Church / Sites had copied her mother's letter and sent it with this letter to Holtkamp]
«detailed view» |
| 3. |
1999/10/19 |
TLS[x] from Holtkamp, Patrick / to Elizabeth Sites |
I want to thank you again for your letter and for enclosing the 1948 letter from Thomas Merton |
|
«detailed view» |
| 4. |
1999/10/23 |
TLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick Holtkamp |
Thank you for your letter. I have been thinking of what you suggested in your letter. |
|
«detailed view» |
| 5. |
2000/01/27? |
HLS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick Holtkamp |
It's been a while since I heard from you - so I thought I better write to you before you got |
|
[no date - postmark unclear]
«detailed view» |
| 6. |
2000/01/31 |
TL[x] from Holtkamp, Patrick / to Elizabeth Sites |
Thank you again for having sent the 1948 letter from Thomas Merton to your mother and for your own |
|
«detailed view» |
| 7. |
2000/03/26 |
TALS[x] from Sites, Elizabeth / to Patrick Holtkamp |
Thank you for returning the Tom Merton letter. Since I read that quotation from the tape of his, |
|
«detailed view» |
| 8. |
2006/02/24 |
HLS[x] from Riley, Christopher / to Patrick Holtkamp |
First and foremost, thank you for your hospitality and the tour. You are obviously doing a terrific |
|
[from Christopher Riley, son of Eleanor Riley and Rev. Lester Riley]
«detailed view» |
|
 |
|
 |
|