Reverend Stephen D. Thorne has been appointed university chaplain at Neumann University where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Division of Education and Human Services.

Fr. Thorne’s primary responsibility as university chaplain is for the sacramental life of the Neumann University Community. For example, he will preside at the celebration of Eucharistic Liturgies, Sacrament of Reconciliation and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. According to Sr. Marguerite O’Beirne, OSF, vice president for mission and ministry at Neumann, “Fr. Thorne will be an engaging presence on campus and will enhance the life of the university community.”

He is also the pastor of Saint Martin de Porres Catholic Church in North Philadelphia.

Since his ordination in 1998, Father Thorne has served as parochial vicar and parochial administrator for Saint Katharine Drexel Catholic Church, Chester, PA; theology faculty member and moderator of the community service corps at Saint John Neumann High School, South Philadelphia; executive director of the Office for Black Catholics, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; pastor at Saint Therese Catholic Church, Mt. Airy Philadelphia; and administrator of the Daniel Rudd Fund of the National Black Catholic Congress, Baltimore, MD.

Father Thorne has a special interest in urban education and has presented research at the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education and the Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators. He is the author of "Walk Like You Have Somewhere To Go": A Literature Review of the Academic, Social and Cultural Needs of African American Adolescent Males in Urban Schools, published in CATALYST, Spring 2016.

“We welcome Father Thorne to campus,” said Dr. Rosalie Mirenda, university president, “and we are grateful to have someone with his educational expertise, theological background and administrative experience serve as university chaplain.”

He earned bachelor of arts (Philosophy), master of divinity, and master of arts (Systematic Theology) degrees at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. While at the Seminary, he also supervised all liturgical celebrations. In 2015, he earned a Master of Science in Education from Neumann University.