My Father's Business: A Biography of His Eminence Emmett Cardinal Carter

The Reverend Dr. A.J. Pell is rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in the
Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia.

The best known Roman Catholic bishop in Ontario’s history is Emmett
Cardinal Carter. Not only was he Archbishop of Toronto when Roman
Catholics came to represent 50 percent of that archdiocese’s
population, but he was also a central figure (and a lightning rod at
times) as debate rose to a loud fury when the Ontario government awarded
full provincial funding for the Catholic school system up to and
including Grade 13. It seemed only a matter of time before a biography
of the now-retired cardinal came off the presses. Douglas Letson and
Michael Higgins—president and assistant academic dean,
respectively—of St. Jerome’s College, University of Waterloo, have
won the race to be in print first, producing what might be termed an
“official” biography.

After plowing through this volume, a reader may well wonder if being
first was worth the effort for Higgins and Letson. In a written text of
232 pages, the authors have devoted less than 50 pages to the first 49
years of Carter’s life. The vast bulk of this volume deals with his
years as a bishop, from 1961 on. Certainly his episcopal career was
turbulent, but it is also relatively well known. What a thoughtful
reader would wish for—a long, hard look at his upbringing, education,
and career as a priest—is not to be found, nor is there a solid
analysis of his episcopate. So in the end this is a hollow biography,
concerned mostly with the business of being a bishop. We will probably
have to wait for an “unofficial” biography to get the breadth of
material and depth of analysis that Carter’s life merits.