A History of Canadian Catholics

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

Terence Fay is a Jesuit, historian, and member of the Toronto School of
Theology for St. Augustine’s Seminary of the University of Toronto.
His history of Canadian Catholics begins with the struggle of French
Catholics to settle a new land, including their encounters with
Amerindians. During this period, and certainly immediately after the
Conquest, the church hierarchy was closely linked with temporal powers
that supported its existence. In the 19th century, as waves of
English-speaking Scottish and Irish immigrants arrived, tensions arose
between the language groups. Church leaders in both groups responded by
promoting ultramontism—loyalty to the Pope and Rome—as a means of
engendering unity among the faithful. In the 20th century, the arrival
of such immigrant groups as the Germans, Ukrainians, Poles, and
Hungarians challenged French/Irish church leadership. It was only with
the establishment of the Canadian Catholic Conference in the postwar
period that these disparate groups were drawn into a more unified
Canadian church.

Fay’s almost exclusive reliance on extant secondary sources leads to
some predictable consequences. Some chapters lurch from topic to topic
with little visible connection among them. And some important topics get
short shrift. That said, A History of Canadian Catholics is a
well-documented book that provides valuable insights into internal
church history and politics, as well as the church’s remarkable
contributions to Canadian education, medicine, and charity.