Reverend Stephen D. Thorne

Reverend Stephen D. Thorne earned his bachelor of arts (Philosophy), master of divinity, and master of arts (Systematic Theology) degrees at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. While at Seminary, he supervised all liturgical celebrations. He also was a member of the National Black Catholic Seminarians Association.  In 2015, he earned a Master of Science in Education from Neumann University.

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.  He is also the pastor of Saint Martin de Porres Catholic Church, a predominantly African American parish in North Philadelphia. Thorne also coordinated development of the National Black Catholic Congress Pastoral Plans in 2012 and 2017.

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.

Thorne was recently appointed university chaplain at Neumann University where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Division of Education and Human Services.