   henri jozef machiel nouwen, (nijkerk, january 24, 1932 â hilversum, september 21, 1996) was a dutch-born catholic priest, professor and writer. his interests were rooted primarily in psychology, pastoral ministry, spirituality, social justice and community. over the course of his life, nouwen was heavily influenced by the work of anton boisen, thomas merton, vincent van gogh and jean vanier. after nearly two decades of teaching at academic institutions including the university of notre dame, yale divinity school and harvard divinity school, nouwen went on to work with mentally and physically handicapped people at the l'arche daybreak community in richmond hill, ontario. before his death nouwen published 39 books and authored hundreds of articles. his books have sold over 7 million copies worldwide and have been published in more than 30 languages. == biography == ===early life=== henri nouwen was born in nijkerk, the netherlands on january 24, 1932. he was the oldest of four children born to laurent j.m. nouwen and maria nouwen (nÃ©e ramselaar). his younger brother  was a prominent dutch businessman and his uncle  was a roman catholic priest in the archdiocese of utrecht. ===priesthood=== nouwen was ordained a catholic priest for the archdiocese of utrecht in 1957 by bernardus alfrink. eager to learn more about himself and the people he counselled, nouwen requested permission from alfrink to study psychology instead of theology. hi
1932_births 1996_deaths Canadian_theologians Christian_mystics Dutch_Christian_pacifists Dutch_Roman_Catholic_priests Dutch_Roman_Catholic_theologians Dutch_non-fiction_writers Harvard_University_faculty Liberation_theologians People_from_Nijkerk Roman_Catholic_writers University_of_Notre_Dame_faculty Yale_University_faculty