Latin America, 1981 - 1982
Ciudad de Dios, Lima Peru on Henri's 50th birthday. Courtesy of Nouwen Archives. Used with permission.
In the late 1970s Nouwen became interested in the political and theological developments that were so deeply affecting the poor in Central and South America. He decided to leave Yale in 1981 to spend six months discerning whether to join the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers to live with and serve the poor in Peru. Although this proved not to be his calling, his visits to the South expanded his worldview and deepened his engagement with social justice. During this period he wrote the journal iGracias! and Love in a Fearful Land, about his friend Father John Vesey’s work in Guatemala.
