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 (née Ramselaar). Nouwen's father was a tax lawyer and his mother worked as a bookkeeper for her family's business in
Amersfoort. Nouwen studied at the
Jesuit Aloysius College in
The Hague before spending a year at the minor seminary in
Apeldoorn. His year at the school was spent preparing for six years of study for the priesthood, consisting of training in philosophy and theology, at the
major seminary in Rijsenburg. Nouwen completed his clinical pastoral training at the
Topeka State Hospital and graduated from the Menninger Foundation's training program in theology and psychiatric theory on June 19, 1965. During his time at the Clinic he found he preferred direct contact with patients over the more scientific and medical analysis of certain branches of psychology. This prompted an examination of his professional practice in order to better integrate spiritual ministry with modern psychology. From 1966 to 1968 he was a visiting professor at the
University of Notre Dame. From 1968 to 1970 he worked at the Amsterdam Joint Pastoral Institute and taught psychology and spirituality at the
Catholic Theological University of Utrecht. In 1971 he received his doctorandus degree in theology. During his time at Yale, Nouwen took several sabbaticals, some of which informed his writing. In 1976 he was a Fellow at the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at
Saint John's Abbey,
Collegeville, Minnesota, and in 1978 he was scholar-in-residence at the
Pontifical North American College in Rome. While a professor at Yale Nouwen also spent several months at the
Abbey of the Genesee. His first visit began on June 1, 1974, and lasted seven months. While there he kept a journal that was published as
Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery in 1976. He returned again in 1979, after the death of his mother, which led to the publication of
A Cry For Mercy: Prayers from the Genesee. Though Nouwen concluded he was not suited for Trappist life, the Abbey of the Genesee and his relationship with then abbott John Eudes Bamberger continued to be of great importance to him. and it was where he chose to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a priest on August 6, 1982. After leaving Yale in 1981, Nouwen took a six-month trip to South America visiting
Bolivia and
Peru. Upon his return to the United States in 1983, Nouwen was appointed at the
Harvard Divinity School as Professor of Divinity and Horace De Y. Lentz Lecturer. The half-time appointment allowed Nouwen to split his time between teaching at the Divinity School and working with a theological center in Latin America. Nouwen taught at the school until his resignation in 1985. In 1985 and 1986 he spent nine months with the
L'Arche community in France.
L'Arche Nouwen's spirituality was greatly influenced by his friendship with
Jean Vanier. The two men met while Nouwen was teaching at Harvard. Vanier sensed how lost Nouwen was feeling and invited him to visit Trosly-Breuil. The stay helped Nouwen find a purpose that had been missing. As Robert A. Jonas explains: "Henri had always wondered what a Eucharistically centered community would be like, and now he had found one at L'Arche." During Nouwen's time in France he traveled to
Toronto,
Ontario, to officiate at a wedding and sought permission to stay for a week at L'Arche Daybreak in
Richmond Hill. While there a core member named Raymond was hit by a car and left in critical condition. Nouwen provided spiritual guidance to the community and Raymond’s family, ultimately helping to reconcile the community and the family, who partially blamed Daybreak for Raymond's injuries. Nouwen's intervention had such an impact that the Daybreak members asked him to serve as their pastor. Nouwen accepted and moved in the fall of 1986 to L'Arche Daybreak, where he would spend the last ten years of his life. While at Daybreak Nouwen was paired with Adam Arnett, a core member at L'Arche Daybreak with profound developmental disabilities. "It is I, not Adam, who gets the main benefit from our friendship," Nouwen insisted. Nouwen wrote about his relationship with Arnett in a book entitled ''Adam: God's Beloved''. ==Personal life==