---

Interview with New Archbishop of Toronto: A Man of Deep Faith and Prayer

By John-Henry Westen

TORONTO, December 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday, the Vatican made public that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed former Edmonton Archbishop Thomas Christopher Collins as the new Archbishop of Toronto.  Born in Guelph Ontario on January 16, 1947 as the youngest of three children, the newly appointed head of Canada's largest Catholic diocese is known as a man of deep faith and prayer. When asked once by The Edmonton Journal if he was a liberal or conservative, Collins replied that he was "someone who seeks to be a faithful disciple of Jesus and a faithful bishop."

LifeSiteNews.com spoke with three of Archbishop Collins' former students who all described him as an orthodox Catholic who has a deep faith and intense prayer life.  In both the diocese of Edmonton and that of St. Paul's where he was Bishop prior to Edmonton, Archbishop Collins installed the practice of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in order to foster vocations to the priesthood.  His take on vocations was that in each parish, there are "three, four, five, 10" people being called to the priesthood or religious life.

By all accounts Collins is a traditional Catholic fostering prayer of the Rosary, reading of the Scriptures, and a view of life as a short journey to eternal life with God.  He is a fan of Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton and fond of quoting the famous original televangelist Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

While a serious academic with a licentiate in Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University, Archbishop Collins nevertheless speaks with simplicity bringing the faith home even to the common man. For example he was once interviewed on the controversial book the Da Vinci code.  Calling it an "an anti-Catholic Raiders of the Lost Ark," he noted to the interviewer that he read a borrowed copy.  According to the Toronto Star he explained, "I read a borrowed version, I mean this guy is attacking the Lord: He's attacking my church, he's attacking Catholics.  So why am I going to pay this guy money?"

He is noted a as a man of joy who is eminently approachable and has a real heart for youth.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com today, Archbishop Collins, speaking from Edmonton, said that one of the "main" challenges facing the Church in Canada is "evangelizing and developing the culture of life, and spreading the faith within our country." 

While not as outspoken as his former Alberta confrere Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, the former Archbishop of Edmonton does deliver the teaching of the church when asked.  "Marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman faithful in love and open to the gift of life," Collins told the Toronto Star Saturday. "Certainly that's what the Catholic church believes, and absolutely what I believe marriage is.  But this is not just a Catholic belief, but a reality that is valued by Catholics, by Protestants, by Jews, including many people of no faith - the fundamental structure of marriage, the fundamental meaning of marriage," he said.

As archbishop of the influential Toronto archdiocese he will be confronted with politicians, who while claiming to be Catholic, are actively opposed to Church teaching on life and family issues.  Archbishop Collins told LifeSiteNews.com that he looks forward to meeting with them.

In 2005, speaking on the issue of Communion for pro-abortion politicians he said "If it was clear that the politician ... manifestly just rejected the Gospel, then I think the bishop would say to that person, 'Come to mass, listen to the words of the Gospel, but it's really not appropriate for you to receive communion.'"

But in terms of dealing with the issue in Toronto Archbishop Collins to LifeSiteNews.com, "I would hope and pray God would guide me in those situations - I know he would."

 Back to Top

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.