FST Feature: Dr. Darleen Pryds
Darleen Pryds, PhD
Associate Professor of Christian Spirituality and History
Dr. Darleen Pryds is in her 20th year teaching at FST. When reflecting on how her career has evolved in these two decades of service, she paused and smiled before saying, “Teaching at FST for all these years has allowed me the space and opportunity to integrate my professional and personal selves. I started studying Franciscan history as an undergraduate because I personally struggled with the same kind of tension between ideals and lived experience that I saw in the lives of practitioners in the Franciscan tradition. That complexity mirrored my own inner explorations. When I arrived at FST in 2001, I was an academic who researched the spirituality and history of the Franciscan laity. Now, as a lay affiliate of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration (LaCrosse, Wisconsin) and a volunteer caregiver in hospice, I can see that my academic interests have become my own lived experience of faith. Inspired by the stories of Franciscan laity such as Lady Jacopa, who cared for St. Francis at the end of his life, and St. Angela of Foligno, whose ongoing conversion was anything but easy, I write and teach about the tradition of Franciscan laity because these stories ground me in the Franciscan tradition in authentic ways.”
Dr. Pryds is a much sought-after speaker and gives workshops, retreats, and lectures on lay spirituality, including on spirituality for the end of life; the contributions of the laity to the Franciscan tradition; and emotional range in Franciscan spirituality. Her current work explores the role of emotions in Franciscan spirituality and Laity as Co-Creators of the Franciscan Tradition. She has authored many books, articles, and recorded lectures. You can sample her work by watching this recorded lecture or reading these articles. For a fuller listing of her published works and recorded lectures, visit her page on Academia.edu
https://www.fst.edu/about/faculty-and-staff/darleen-pryds-phd/