John Gay’s special way feted by Physicians for Life

Dr. John Gay’s special way with people made his son Bruce’s journey toward becoming a general surgeon in Ottawa so much easier.

“He paved the way for me because everybody respected the man so much that they'd say, ‘oh, you're John Gay's son.’ Automatically, I just got an open door. ‘If you're like your dad, we'll have you. Everything was open to me because of my father,” said Bruce, the chief of surgery for Queensway Carleton Hospital since 2019. 

One reason Gay, 87, is being honoured with the Canadian Physicians for Life’s (CPL) annual Dr. Paul Adams Award for “exceptional initiative, professionalism and generosity within the pro-life medical community” on Nov. 7 is how he treated those around him. His esteem as an endocrinologist at Ottawa Civic Hospital, educational advocacy, advancement of Canadian medical ethics through the societies he started and moral clarity in standing for life also inspired his selection as the 2026 honouree. 

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Due to failing health, Bruce was to stand in to provide a reaction to this recognition. One of Gay's granddaughters, Sophie, will accept the award during the CPL Annual Conference banquet. 

Bruce, with a trace of awe in his voice, expressed why his father stood tall. 

“He was fearless,” said Bruce. “I mean, in this age where everybody's afraid to talk… he did apostolic works throughout his career in secular environments in a very well-practiced way. He didn't preach at people, but his example was there, and he started societies that promoted all life.”

The man who converted to Catholicism in 1984 in part because of his immersion in the writings of G.K. Chesterton founded an Ottawa Chesterton Society in 1989. A year later he established a Christopher Dawson Society in honour of the man widely considered as the greatest Catholic historian of the 20th century. 

The most significant group he founded later that decade — still active to this day — is the Sts. Cosmas and Damian Society for Medical Ethics (also known as the Ottawa Catholic Physicians' Guild) in honour of the patron saints of physicians, surgeons and pharmacists.

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Akin to all member guilds of the Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians’ Societies, of which Gay was a founding member in 2006, the mission of the Sts. Cosmas and Damian Society is “applying and promoting the teaching of the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church in health care and medical ethics.” The association provides spiritual and ethical formation, fellowship and a forum for sharing knowledge.

Nicole Scheidl, the CPL’s executive director, arrived in the nation’s capital in 1996 with a keen interest in joining the Sts. Cosmas and Damian Society. Gay’s wife Barbara told the recently retired lawyer she needed a doctor to accompany her to gain admittance. She convinced her new family doctor, Louise Ryding, to come with her. Scheidl’s persistence paid off for both. Ryding met and later married Bruce Gay, and Scheidl explored new and fascinating intellectual terrain. 

“It is one of the reasons why I am where I am today with Physicians for Life,” said Scheidl. “I don't think I would have had the interest developed in me if I had not had that year of attending the ethics groups and really being provoked to think by John's way of presenting medical cases and talking through the ethics of them. He really encouraged people to become deeper thinkers.”

A cancer diagnosis at age 65 did end his medical practice as he underwent a year of chemotherapy, but he came through with a resolve not to end his professional career. He volunteered and taught primary school history for over a decade, and this time moulding young minds enkindled a desire to establish a private Catholic high school. He did just that in 2018. His son Stephen serves as headmaster of the independent, classical educational institution, and Barbara serves on the board. 

“I must say that without my mother, my father wouldn't have accomplished what he did,” said Bruce. “He had the ideas and the brains, and he worked at it from an intellectual point of view, but when boots hit the ground, they were my mother's. She got out there and got it going in every way. Everything he wanted to do, she got it going.”

Another notable accomplishment was co-establishing Justin Press Catholic publishing house and bookstore alongside Richard Bastien in 2009. Dozens of books were published during its 15 years in operation. Gay told Opus Dei in 2016 that he considers Justin Press, named after St. Justin Martyr, the patron of apologists, a Catholic apostolate, as “books are a powerful instrument for the transmission of Christian culture.”

The way his father maintained his indefatigable zest for life through teaching, publishing and other projects, with Barbara standing at his side, following his cancer diagnosis is continuously inspiring to Bruce. The son also warmly recollected the month he and his father spent in recovery together as their surgeries for a brain tumour and colon cancer were two days apart. 

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“That was one of the best times of my life,” said Bruce. “People say there's nothing good that comes out of an illness, but I learned so much from him about suffering and how to accept it. And it changed the way I practice medicine.”

Gay, now poorer in health, is continuing to teach through his actions. Bruce shared that his father is enduring his trials with humility and is filling his days with constant prayer. He is also enriched by his wife, four children, 12 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

(Amundson is an associate editor and writer for The Catholic Register.)

A version of this article appeared in the November 08, 2026 issue of The Catholic Register with the headline "John Gay’s special way feted by Physicians for Life".