Memorials of Canadian Ecumenists

George Vandervelde (1939-2007)

Dr. George Vandervelde (1939-2007) by Peter Schuurman George Vandervelde (ThD Vrije Universiteit) taught systematic theology at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto from 1977 until 2005, specializing in soteriology, pneumatology, and ecclesiology. As a Reformed theologian, he wrote a doctoral dissertation on Roman Catholic theology entitled Original Sin: Two Major Trends in Contemporary Roman […]

Harry McSorley (1931-2017)

by Professor Catherine E. Clifford Harry McSorley was Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto, from 1970 to 1997, where he guided many young scholars into the world of ecumenical studies. He died on May 1, 2017, in Naples, Florida. Born in Philadelphia in 1931, the middle child […]

Margaret O’Gara (1947-2012)

by Professor Michael Vertin Margaret O’Gara was born in Chicago in 1947. The vigorous Christian commitment she eventually developed owed much to her parents. Joan Smith and James O’Gara first met in a discussion group organized by the Catholic Worker movement. Not long after they married and Margaret and her younger sister Monica were born, […]

William MacBeath Brown (1940-1984)

BROWN, William MacBeath, priest, was born on 14 June 1940 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of William MacBeath Brown and Margaret Emma Bell. He died in Montreal, Quebec, on 12 October 1984, and is buried in the Basilian plot of Holy Cross Cemetery, Thornhill, Ontario. ‘Mac’ Brown attended Kerrisdale Grade School and Lord Byng […]