File 251 - Letters from Peter Weiskel

0.5 cm of textual records

Weiskel was central in Nouwen's life during years at Harvard between 1984 and 1987. Weiskel was an administrative assistant among other roles.
File consists primarily of material that Nouwen sent to Weiskel, as well as some material created by Weiskel about Nouwen.

The file includes:
1) 1984, November 17: Copy of a handwritten letter from Nouwen to Peter Weiskel and Kate Sheehan. The letter accompanied their wedding present from Nouwen. He presented the gift at their reception, which took place at St. Ann's University Parish in Boston on 17 November, 1984. The gift was a pottery chalice and plate made by Sally Palmer. The prayer on page two was the prayer Nouwen offered at the reception.
2)1985, November 12: Original letter hand-written by Nouwen to Peter Weiskel and Kate Sheehan. Letter is written from Trosly, France on the first anniversary of their wedding.
3) 1988, April 16: Original handwritten post card from Nouwen to Weiskel and Sheehan.
4) 1988, August 17: Original hand written letter from Nouwen to Weiskel. Nouwen is responded to an essay Weiskel wrote about becoming Catholic, published in a book called "New Catholics" (Crossroad, 1987). It was originally published in New Oxford Review. In the letter Nouwen reflects on his sadness about his inability to really connect through his writings with the Catholic community in Holland.
5) 1988, July 28: Original typed letter from Nouwen to Peter Weiskel, Kate Sheehan and Michael and Marta O'Laughlin.
6) 1988, September 12: Original typed letter from Nouwen to Weiskel and Sheehan
7) 1988, September 27: Original typed letter from Nouwen to Weiskel and Sheehan. Weiskel noted that "Agnes O'Keefe, mentioned in the letter, was Henri's housekeeper at Harvard (in 1983-84 at his Ware Street apartment in Cambridge, and in 1984-85 at the Carriage House on the Harvard Divinity School campus). Agnes was an older woman, probably her late 70s, and a lifelong Cambridge resident. She had worked for decades on the Harvard housekeeping staff, and after retirement worked for "Father Henri" for two years. She was definitely part of the Carriage House circle of friends, that included Michael and Marta, Jutta Ayer, Jim Smith, David Leblanc, and other assorted students and local members of the Cambridge community. My wife Kate kept up with Agnes for years afterward."
8) 1991, January 24: Original typed letter from Nouwen to Weiskel and Sheehan.
Weiskel's comments: "Dan Ponsetto was one of Henri's students in the large Spirituality class at Harvard. Dan was actually a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological School, an Evangelical school that was part of the Boston Theological Institute, a consortium of theological schools in the Boston area, similar to Toronto's. Dan has been a campus minister at Boston College (the local Jesuit university) for many years. Henri's class had many students from outside of Harvard-- ranging from liberal Protestants, to Evangelicals, to every sort of Catholic, including Benedictine nuns in full habits. "Uncle Shawn" is my wife's uncle, a long-time diocesan priest and seminary professor in Boston, who died in the fall of 1991. Paul is our son, adopted from Bogota, Colombia. I remain convinced that Henri was the greatest ecumenist of our time, without ever setting out to be one."
9) 1993, March 4: Original typed letter by Nouwen to Weiskel
10) Undated: Typed reflection, written by Weiskel, about Nouwen at Harvard. Weiskel wrote it before Nouwen died, but is unsure of the date.
11) 1996, September 24: Order of service for Henri's Harvard memorial service
12) 1996, September 24: Letter written by Weiskel to Ms. Anita Creighton, Rev. Claudia Highbaugh and Ms. Missy Daniel regarding Nouwen's death
Attached: Orbituary for Rev. Henri Nouwen, written by Peter K. Weiskel
13) 1996, September 25: "Henri Nouwen's Harvard Legacy: Teacher, Writer, Priest" written by Peter K. Weiskel.

The file originally contained two folders, with the second folder consisting entirely of a handwritten draft manuscript of Nouwen’s Lifesigns with Weiskel’s edits. The draft has been added to the other drafts of Lifesigns under related descriptions.

Title based on contents of the file.
Mary Lux collected the material, as Dr. Anne Jones is deceased, and sent it to the Archive as a result of the 2010-2011 Letter Project.

Added by L Whitehead, 6 October 2025