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Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books on the spiritual life. His books are widely read today by Protestants and Catholics alike. He showed, and continues to show, a generation of ministers, teachers and seekers how one's gifts are to be placed at the service of those whom God places in our path. He writes very directly about our contemporary longings for meaning, belonging, and intimacy and, at the same time, integrates this with a powerful vision of service and social justice. Fr. Nouwen often used the three core themes of solitude, community, and compassion to help people enter into a fresh vision of the spiritual life.
After nearly two decades of teaching at the Menninger Foundation Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, and at the University of Notre Dame, Yale University and Harvard University, Nouwen went to share his life with mentally handicapped people at the L'Arche community of Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. After a long period of declining energy, he died in 1996 from a sudden heart attack.
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