Richard McBrien facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Reverend Richard McBrien
Richard sometime in 1989 or earlier.
Born	Richard Peter McBrien (1936-08-19)August 19, 1936
Died	January 25, 2015(2015-01-25) (aged 78) Farmington, Connecticut
Title	Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology, University of Notre Dame
Richard McBrien Education St. Thomas Seminary St. John's Seminary Gregorian University Occupation Priest theologian writer professor Notable work Catholicism Theological work Era Post-Second Vatican Council Main interests Implementing the Second Vatican Council Catholic Church renewal Notable ideas Advocated "seamless garment" of social teaching

Richard Peter McBrien (August 19, 1936 – January 25, 2015) was a Catholic priest, theologian, and writer, who was the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, U.S. He authored twenty-five books, including the very popular Catholicism, a reference text on the Church after the Second Vatican Council.

Biography

Richard P. McBrien was born on August 19, 1936, the fourth of five children of Thomas H. and Catherine (Botticelli) McBrien. His father was a police officer, his mother a nurse. McBrien earned his bachelor's degree at St. Thomas Seminary in Bloomfield, Connecticut, in 1956, and a master's at St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, in 1962. He was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford in 1962. His first assignment as a priest was at Our Lady of Victory Church in New Haven, Connecticut. McBrien obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1967. He taught at the Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts.

McBrien authored several books and articles discussing Catholicism. He is most well known for his authorship of Catholicism. He also served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America from 1974–1975. In 1976 he was the awarded the John Courtney Murray Award for outstanding and distinguished accomplishments in theology. McBrien joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1980; served as Chair of the Department of Theology of the University of Notre Dame from 1980 to 1991; and retired in 2013. Prior to going to Notre Dame, McBrien taught at Boston College, where he was director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry.

McBrien's scholarly interests included ecclesiology, the relationship between religion and politics, and the theological, doctrinal, and spiritual aspects of the Catholic Church. McBrien published 25 books and was the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism. He also served as an on-air commentator on Catholic events for CBS in addition to his regular contribution as a commentator on several major television networks. He was also a consultant for ABC News. He wrote several essays for the National Catholic Reporter as well as for The Tidings in Los Angeles. He produced a syndicated theological column for the Catholic press, Essays in Theology.

Notre Dame Professor of Theology Brian Daley described his colleague as representing "what had been a pretty widespread point of view among Catholic theologians in the late 60s and 70s: liberal on the 'hot-button' issues, but – as he saw it – still theologically defensible. By the late 80s, though, this approach had definitely become a minority voice."

McBrien died after a lengthy illness at his home in Farmington, Connecticut, on January 25, 2015, at the age of 78.

Works

McBrien's Lives of Saints and Lives of the Popes provided detailed biographical information and discussed the larger religious and historical significance of saints and popes. He later published pocket guides to each of these volumes to supply more accessible information.

• Religion and Politics in America, (1987)
• Lives of the Popes: The Pontiffs from Saint Peter to John Paul II (HarperSanFrancisco, 2000 (revised in 2006), ISBN: 0-06-065304-3)
• The Church: The Evolution of Catholicism (2008, ISBN: 0-06-124521-6)
• The Pocket Guide to the Popes (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, ISBN: 0-06-113773-1)
• The Pocket Guide to the Saints] (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, ISBN: 0-06-113774-X)
• Lives of the Saints: From Mary and St. Francis of Assisi to John XXIII and Mother Teresa (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006, ISBN: 0-06-123283-1)
• 101 Questions & Answers on the Church (Paulist Press, 2003, ISBN: 0-8091-4250-3)
• Responses to 101 Questions on the Church (Paulist Press, 1996, ISBN: 0-8091-3638-4)
• The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (HarperSanFrancisco, 1995, ISBN: 0-06-065338-8)
• Inside Catholicism (Signs of the Sacred) (HarperCollins, 1995, ISBN: 0-00-649052-2) A Roman Catholic theology, history, and morality.
• Ministry: A Theological, Pastoral Handbook] (HarperSanFrancisco, 1988, ISBN: 0-06-065324-8)
• Caesar's Coin: Religion and Politics in America (MacMillan, 1987, ISBN: 0-02-919720-1)
• In Search of God (Dimension Books, 1977, ISBN: 0-87193-082-X)
• The Remaking of the Church: An Agenda for Reform (Harper & Row, 1973, ISBN: 0-06-065327-2)
• For the Inquiring Catholic: Questions and Answers for the 1970s (Dimension Books, 1973)
• Who is a Catholic? (Dimension Books, 1971)
• Church: The Continuing Quest (Paulist Press, 1970, ISBN: 0-8091-1525-5)
• The Church in the Thought of Bishop John Robinson (Westminster Press 1966, SCM Press 1966)