23 Facts About Richard McBrien

Richard Peter McBrien was a Catholic priest, theologian, and writer who was the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, Indiana.

Richard McBrien authored twenty-five books, including the popular Catholicism, a reference text on the Church after the Second Vatican Council.

Richard P McBrien was born on August 19,1936, the fourth of five children of Thomas H and Catherine McBrien.

Richard McBrien's father was a police officer, his mother a nurse.

Richard McBrien was ordained as a priest for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford in 1962.

Richard McBrien obtained his doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 1967.

Richard McBrien taught at the Pope John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts.

Richard McBrien served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America from 1974 to 1975.

Richard McBrien joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1980, served as chair of the Department of Theology there from 1980 to 1991, and retired in 2013.

Richard McBrien published 25 books and was the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism.

Richard McBrien 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.

Richard McBrien wrote several essays for the National Catholic Reporter as well as for The Tidings in Los Angeles.

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

Richard McBrien was a controversial figure in the American Catholic Church, mainly because of conflict surrounding his published works and public remarks.

Richard McBrien's Catholicism sold over 150,000 copies in its original two-volume edition in 1980.

The committee noted that Richard McBrien had presented some core Catholic teachings as one view among many, instead of as the authoritative views of the church.

In 2004, Richard McBrien wrote a column supporting "Seamless garment" theory propounded by Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago in 1983, which holds that issues such as abortion, capital punishment, militarism, euthanasia, social injustice, and economic injustice all demand a consistent application of moral principles that value the sacredness of human life.

Richard McBrien's position prompted criticism from what McBrien characterized as "single-issue, anti-abortion Catholics".

Richard McBrien served as the general editor of The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism.

Richard McBrien denied having plagiarized, and John Cavadini, chair of Notre Dame's theology department, dismissed the charges raised by the society, which he described as a "militant, right-wing Catholic interest group".

In September 2009, Richard McBrien published an article in the National Catholic Reporter in which he criticized the practice of eucharistic adoration by calling it "a doctrinal, theological, and spiritual step backward, not forward".

Richard McBrien later published pocket guides to each of these volumes to supply more accessible information.

Richard McBrien served as a paid consultant for the film The Da Vinci Code.