Francis X. McAloon

Acting Dean, Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education

Francis X. McAloon, S.J., (M.Div., STL, Ph.D,) is GRE's acting dean, associate professor of Christian Spirituality and Ignatian Studies; the director of the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) program, and the coordinator for the Christian Spirituality and Pastoral Studies programs. He serves on the board of directors for the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality (SSCS) and currently serves as the liaison person between the SSCS board and the editorial board for Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality. His current research builds upon earlier books and articles focusing upon the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and their potential as texts for prayer, employing the interdisciplinary tools of the academic study of Christian spirituality, Paul Ricoeur's hermeneutics, and new-historicist literary criticism.

His current research includes the methods and critiques of disability (Crip) studies, focusing upon medical, social, and spiritual constructs of people with chronic illness or disabilities, how to reframe, refute and reform said constructs, and proposing possibilities for Christian spiritual affiliation - through prayer, poetry, and the arts.