Fr. Tom Nairn

Fr. Thomas Nairn, O.F.M. was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 18, 1948. He entered the Franciscan Order in 1968 and was ordained a priest in 1975. He earned an M.Div. and M.A. in Theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a Ph.D. from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. His degree is in Christian Theology with a specialization in Christian Ethics. 

From 1980 until 2008, he taught at the Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, becoming the Erica and Harry John Professor of Catholic Theological Ethics. During that time, he was also medical ethics consultant to several Chicago hospitals. In 2008, he became the Senior Director of Ethics and Theology at the Catholic Health Association of the United States, 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. He has taught or lectured in several countries. In 2014, he was appointed by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life as Ecclesiastical Advisor to the International Catholic Committee for Nurses and Health Care Workers, a position he held until 2022.