Item 1570 - Protecting intimacy

Identity area

Reference code

CA ON00389 F4-9-1-1570

Title

Protecting intimacy

Date(s)

  • October 1974 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

2 p. of textual records

Context area

Name of creator

(1932-1996)

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This item is a half- page article by Henri Nouwen entitled, ‘Protecting Intimacy’ published in Dignity, A National Publication of the Gay Catholic Community, Vol. V, No. 10, October 1974, p.4. Nouwen begins this article by stating, ‘A most painful thing to say is that intimate love does not take our loneliness away but protects it and converts it into solitude. Therefore intimacy is first of all a protecting intimacy allowing us to move from loneliness to solitude.’ Nouwen then goes on to give an example of a family whose mode of living is to avoid pain in their relationships. Nouwen suggests that ‘this world is full of lonely people trying hard to love each other without succeeding. The question is if this is not largely due to the fact that we are not able to face the pain of our loneliness’. Nouwen concludes by stating,’Intimacy,..does not mean entering the other with an intruding curiosity or a hungry need for satisfaction. Intimacy touches gently, intimacy does not take, but gives, does not suffocate but lets grow, does not conquer and possess but sets free and keeps free.’

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

    Script of material

      Language and script notes

      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Finding aids

      Generated finding aid

      Allied materials area

      Existence and location of originals

      Existence and location of copies

      Related units of description

      Related descriptions

      Notes area

      Note

      Published in Dignity: A National Publication of the Gay Catholic Community 5, no. 10 (October 1974): 4-5.
      Article was published earlier in the National Catholic Reporter, May 10, 1974 entitled, Protecting Intimacy.
      This article is published in a revised form in Chapter 1, A Suffocating Loneliness in Nouwen, Henri, Reaching Out, Image Books, Doubleday, N.Y. 1974.

      Alternative identifier(s)

      Accession Number

      2000 02

      Location

      Box 294

      Access points

      Subject access points

      Place access points

      Name access points

      Genre access points

      Description control area

      Description identifier

      Institution identifier

      Rules and/or conventions used

      Dates of creation revision deletion

      Added by L Joson, 7 November 2017

      Language(s)

        Script(s)

          Sources

          Accession area