Kilian McDonnell, OSB
Fr. Kilian McDonnell, OSB, born in Great Falls, Montana in 1921, joined the monastic community of Saint John’s Abbey in 1945. For the larger portion of his life, Kilian McDonnell was a professional theologian and a university professor. He received his St.D. from the theological faculty of Trier, Germany, and taught in the graduate school of theology of Saint John’s University. In 1967, he founded and became the executive director of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. He was involved and chaired numerous theological ecumenical discussions both nationally and internationally. He served as the Catholic co-chair of the international dialogue between classical Pentecostals and Roman Catholics from 1972-1992. The Catholic Theological Society of America also awarded him the John Courtney Murray Award for distinguished contributions to theology and the church. At the age of seventy-five he began writing poetry seriously. He has authored five books of poetry, along with numerous other publications.
