Catholics at the (Gathering Place): Historical Essays on the Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841-1991

George A. Rawlyk is a history professor at Queen’s University and
author of Champions of the Truth: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and the
Maritime Baptists.

This superb collection of 17 essays is concerned with the historical
development of the Roman Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Toronto
from the early 19th century to the present.

Section 1 deals with the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Irish.
Particularly impressive are the chapters by Murray W. Nicholson and
Brian Clarke. Section 2, entitled “Clergy and Religious,” is
highlighted by Gerald J. Stortz’s chapter, “The Clergy of the
Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841–1901.” Section 3 (“New Canadians,
Ethnicity and Culture Identity”) is notable for Mark McGowan’s
illuminating chapter “Sharing the Burden of Empire: Toronto Catholics
and the Great War 1914–1918.” Section 4 concentrates on the
post–Depression period and offers finely crafted chapters by Jeanne
Beck, Luigi Pennacchio, and Brian Hogan.

Catholics at the “Gathering Place” marks a major step forward in
Canadian Roman Catholic historiography.