0 The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana August
Literary agent reflects on relationship with Thomas Merton
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (CNS)
Literary agent Naomi Bur-
ton Stone recalls her first
thought when she heard that a
promising young author had
entered a Trappist monastery
and vowed to live in silence.
"I was stunned and furious.
What a waste! My God, he will
never write another book, I
thought," said Ms. Stone in an
interview with The Church
World, Portland's diocesan
newspaper.
But Father Thomas Merton
proved her wrong and grew to
become the most widely read
Christian commentator on the-
ology, the contemplative life
and social causes.
Ms. Stone, now 82 and living
in a retirement community in
Portsmouth, is credited with
having discovered Father Mer-
ton, author of "The Seven
Storey Mountain" and several
other books that wielded a
tremendous influence on
Catholics in the post-World
War II era.
Barely a year after Ms.
Stone arrived in New York
from England and settled in as
a reacler and literary agent at
Curtis Brown on Madison Av-
enue, a blond young man with
a faintly English accent
dropped off a manuscript and
asked if it was worthy of publi-
cation. He was teaching at St.
Bonaventure's at the time.
"After reading the manu-
script of his novel, 'The
Labyrinth,' I told Tom Merton
that I thought the book was
commercially risky," Ms. Stone
recalls. "But I did think he was
a promising writer. And I took
him to lunch at the Roosevelt
Hotel in the next block -- not
the elegant dining room where
an agent generally takes a cel-
ebrated author. And I did en-
courage him to continue writ-
ing. I didn't know at the time
that he was a Catholic, and
that he was thinking of becom-
ing a monk."
When he entered Gethse-
mani Abbey in Kentucky on
Dec. 10, 1941, Merton asked a
friend to tell Ms. Stone. She
didn't hear from him again
until 1947, when a manuscript
from a Trappist priest named
Father Louis arrived on her
desk.
When she realized that Fa-
ther Louis was the religious
name of Father Thomas Mer-
ton, her interest was immedi-
ately sparked. And as she read
the manuscript of "The Seven
Storey Mountain" -- Father
Merton's story of his conver-
sion and newfound life -- sh'e
was convinced it was mar-
ketable.
She contacted Bob Giroux, a
friend of Father Merton's who
was then a junior editor at
Harcourt Brace publishing
house and later became a part-
ner at Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. "Harcourt Brace imme-
diately offered to buy the man-
uscript -- and I found myself
working out a contract with
Father Abbot of the monastery
at Gethsemani," Ms. Stone re-
calls.
In 1948, Harcourt Brace
published about 5,000 copies in
the first printing, which
quickly sold out. "It just took
off in a way that startled
everybody," Ms. Stone remem-
bers.
Harcourt Brace printed and
reprinted it until more than 1
million copies were sold in the
United States alone. "It was
amazing," said Ms. Stone. "And
it became a real moneymaker
for Gethsemani Abbey in Ken-
tucky which -- until then --
had been relying on the sale of
its cheeses to support the
monastery."
In 1949, Ms. Stone received
the manuscript for Father
Merton's next book, "Seeds of
Contemplation." Thirty-four
other manuscripts followed
over the next two decades.
When Ms. Stone visited Fa-
ther Merton at the monastery,
where he was permitted to live
in a hermitage so he could
write without distractions,
they would take long walks on
the monastery grounds. "As a
non-Catholic, it always
touched me when I heard the
bells intoning the Angelus
and Tom would bow his head
and pray."
But he had a fault which
caused Ms. Stone considerable
grief as a literary agent. When
fans -- especially men and
women religious -- asked him
for segments of his manuscript,
or whole chapters, he could
never refuse them. That caused
major problems with publishers
and copyright restrictions.
"Once I received a call from a
publisher in France who
wanted to work out a contract
with Tom for the publication of
a manuscript which -- un-
known to the caller -- had al-
ready been published," Ms.
Stone said. The publisher had
received it from a French nun.
"Apparently, Tom had given
the manuscript to the nuns,"
she said. "I rushed down to
Kentucky and read the riot act
to him! I used to get so cross
with him. He was like a child
-- and I was like an older sis-
ter to him. Something like
Lucy and Charlie Brown in
'Peanuts."'
Father Merton died on
10, 1968, in a freak
Bangkok, Thailand, where
was attending a meeting
Asian Benedictine and
clan monks and nuns.
his trip, he asked the
call Ms. Stone himself
thing were to happen to
Merton.
"It was almost as if he
pated that he would not
alive," Ms. Stone said. "He
been such a champiOn
peace, and opposed
ironic that his body was
turned from the Far East on
military plane alongside
bodies of American GIs
were killed in Vietnam
war was waging fiercely."
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Shortfall for retired religious rises to $6.3
WASHINGTON (CNS) --
Despite fund-raising and cost-
cutting efforts, the retirement
liability for members of U.S.
religious orders increased by
$1.4 billion over the past two
years to reach $6.3 billion.
Information about the short-
fall was released in mid-July
by the accounting firm of
Arthur Andersen & Co., which
prepared the 1994 Retirement
Needs Survey report from data
provided by U.S. religious in-
stitutes to the Tri-Conference
Retirement Office.
The $150 million raised in
six national collections for re-
tired religious since 1987 failed
to cover even the retirement
cost increases attributable to
inflation alone, estimated at
$200 million per year, the re-
port said.
"It is therefore increasingly
important to go beyond tradi-
tional fund-raising efforts to
additional sources of revenue
such as lay equivalent salaries,
rental income, cost allocations
to subsidiary institutions and
creative ways to reduce retire-
ment costs through collabora-
tive efforts and operating effi-
ciencies, said Dale Kent, head
of the survey team for Arthur
Andersen.
• "This gap must be ad-
dressed," he added. "It is a se-
rious threat to many orders."
The report was prepared
iii i ii I i
301 MAIN ST. • VINCENNES. IN 47§gl I"
I
I I1.
from 1993 data
religious institutes
ing 94 percent of all
gious. The Tri
tirement Office
responses into a
needs analysis c ompl
gram, from which
dersen compiled the
port.
The report showet
1993, only 3
women religious
the age of 40,
were 80 or over.
religious, 12 pert,
under 40 and only
were 80 or older.
There was some
in the data. =The
sets designated for
continues to grow
tals $4.543 billion
report said. In ado
number of
have to draw from
ment funds is doWn
since 1985.
