Fr. Tom Nairn is a member of the Board of Regents at the Franciscan School of Theology and is currently teaching a course entitled Sexual Ethics and Bioethics. He holds a Ph.D. from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. He taught Theological Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. In 2008 he was named the Senior Director of Ethics and Theology at the Catholic Health Association and served in that position until he was elected Provincial Minister of the Sacred Heart Province in 2017. He served as Provincial until October 2023.
Fr. Nairn has published four books and many academic, professional, and popular articles on moral theology, especially in the area of health care ethics. From 2014 until 2022, he held an appointment from the Vatican Council for the Laity as Ecclesiastical Advisor to the International Catholic Committee for Nurses and Health Care Workers.
Focusing on the other in a mode of prayerful listening and moving toward action with and for the other, this Franciscan spirituality of discernment can be a model not only for Franciscans but for others as well.
Fr. Tom explores the relationship between the consistent ethic of life espoused by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and integral ecology, as described by Pope Francis. These perspectives, which consider that life issues and justice issues are interrelated, call for a wider moral vision.
