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OBITUARY: Kingston Archbishop Anthony Meagher dies peacefully at home |
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Written by Joseph Sinasac, CR Publisher and Editor
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Monday, 15 January 2007 |
 BY JOSEPH SINASAC
The Catholic Register
After a highly public four-year fight with cancer, Kingston Archbishop Anthony Meagher died peacefully at his family home in Oshawa, Ont., Jan. 14. He was 66.
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Funeral
Arrangements
Jan. 18:
Visitation 1-9 p.m.,
St. Mary’s Cathedral,
Kingston
Jan. 19:
Interfaith Service, 7:30 a.m.,
St. Mary’s Cathedral, followed by visitation.
Funeral begins at 1:30 p.m.
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The archbishop’s open and courageous struggle with the disease drew the admiration of people across Canada who had come to know him. Countless prayers had been offered for him publicly and privately since he revealed in 2002 that he faced the prospect of dying from cancer within 18 months. Those months stretched into years, however, until the fall when all treatment was discontinued.
“Way back at the beginning of the cancer, it was suggested to me that perhaps God was allowing me to be sick at this time in order that I might be better able to relate, as chief shepherd, to all in our archdiocese who are not well.,” Archbishop Meagher wrote in his column, Lines from a Rocking Chair, published in the November issue of Journey, the archdiocese of Kingston newspaper.
“I really believe that this is a mission that God has given me, and I am astounded to see how God has been able to use my weakness to touch the hearts of so many people in a positive way.”
Archbishop Meagher lived this special ministry by making a deliberate effort to talk with cancer patients at the local cancer centre, sharing the illness with the people of the archdiocese in his preaching and in his writing, and speaking of his cancer in media interviews.
He had been archbishop of Kingston only since Aug. 13, 2002. Prior to that he had been auxiliary bishop of Toronto since June 26, 1997, and had the high-profile and tension-filled job of chairing the committee of bishops that oversaw World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto.
That event drew about 800,000 people to Toronto’s Downsview Park in late July 2002 to celebrate the Eucharist with Pope John Paul II after a week of worship, catechism and prayer with the late pope and numerous bishops, cardinals, priests and both male and female religious from around the world.
Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB, now chief executive officer of Salt+Light TV, was general secretary of WYD 2002 and had been a friend of Archbishop Meagher from the latter’s days as auxiliary in Toronto.
“When he asked me to work with him on WYD 2002, we began another stage of our friendship that brought us into daily contact with each other for almost four years,” he told The Catholic Register. “Throughout that adventure, Bishop Tony never lost his hope, perspective, kindness and vision for that world event that would change the lives of millions of people. While we were preparing for World Youth Day, Bishop Tony began his own physical suffering. I accompanied him several times to hospitals and prayed with him during some long nights. His humour and unfailing trust in God were constant.”
The archbishop came to his priesthood after a somewhat winding journey. He was born Nov. 17, 1940, in Oshawa and grew up enjoying sports, especially basketball, and other people. His mother died when he was six, and his father moved with the young Anthony into the home of his mother’s sisters, where he was raised.
He studied English at the University of Toronto, receiving a bachelor’s degree. He began a career as a teacher, but after only three years the priesthood beckoned and the young Tony Meagher entered St. Augustine’s Seminary.
However, after a short time there, his own restlessness and uncertainty pushed him to withdraw from seminary studies and turn to teaching. He spent another three years teaching at Oshawa high schools and coaching basketball. But the priesthood never left him alone.
In 1971, he was accepted back at St. Augustine’s, where he graduated in 1972. He was ordained on June 17 of that year by Archbishop Philip Pocock of Toronto. More theology studies followed at Saint Paul University in Ottawa and a series of parishes.
From 1972-1976 he was associate pastor and acting rector of St. Michael’s Cathedral; from 1976-1981 he was associate pastor at St. John the Evangelist in Whitby; he was pastor of Blessed Trinity in Willowdale from 1981-1992 and pastor of St. Anthony of Padua in Brampton from 1992-1997.
As an auxiliary bishop he had responsibility for the relationship with religious congregations. He worked hard to build warm friendships with them and deepen their involvement in the local church.
While still an auxiliary bishop in 1999, he was asked by Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic to oversee WYD. This took him far and wide and brought him into contact with people from all levels of civic and religious life in Canada and many other countries.
“I admired his simplicity, tremendous respect and love of women religious in the church, his deep care and concern for his brother priests, and the trust and confidence he placed in young people,” Rosica said. “After WYD 2002, he invited me on several occasions to do the catechesis sessions in the cathedral of Kingston. I realized on those blessed occasions that WYD 2002 had taken root in that archdiocese because its shepherd and pastor Archbishop Meagher walked his talk and loved his people.”
Upon arrival in Kingston, he quickly won over both clergy and laity with his warm pastoral style and zest for living. His teaching sessions with the youth of Kingston became popular and a hallmark of his short time there.
Soon after being installed as Kingston’s eighth archbishop, he issued a call for renewal and, with the help of the laity, developed a faith education plan for the archdiocese’s 102,500 Roman Catholics. While the laity responded enthusiastically, the archbishop faced some challenges. In July 2005, an international women’s organization held an event on a boat in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, straddling the Canada-U.S.border, in which a number of women were “ordained” as priests. The archbishop responded quickly, with sensitivity but firmness.
“It is obvious that women do much good in the church, and it is inaccurate to think that priestly ordination is the only route to working for the spread of the Gospel,” he said. While reaffirming church teaching that women cannot be ordained as priests, he added that, “it is very important to acknowledge the good faith and integrity of those who sincerely believe in the merit of this issue.”
He was also resolved to break down barriers between people of different faiths. He invited the leaders of the other faith communities in Kingston to join him on April 5, 2005, in an interfaith evening prayer and vigil marking the death of Pope John Paul II, who died April 2. More than 1,000 people crowded into St. Mary’s Cathedral for the event. He followed this up with other multifaith evenings.
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Joseph Sinasac, CR Publisher And Editor |
| About the author: |
| Joseph Sinasac is Publisher and Editor of The Catholic Register. A veteran journalist and author, he is widely sought as an analyst on Catholic subjects by mainstream news media, including television and daily newspapers. He holds a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Waterloo. |
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