Postmodern culture is marked by fissures between races, genders, generations, income classes, and even religions. The Roman Catholic Church itself has had its share of debates over everything from doctrine to morality to worship practices, which have caused their own divisions in the Church. Such debates can become entrenched and the combatants immersed in their own subcultures, complete with their own publications, organizations and conferences. What ensues is not a debate in the truest sense of the term, that is, a conversation that has common understanding as its objective. Instead, there is mutual distrust. Archbishop James Weisgerber will address how we can reach outside our safe territory to begin the long process of healing — in our church and in our world.
Most Rev. V. James Weisgerber
Archbishop Weisgerber currently serves as Vice-President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB). Ordained a priest in 1963, he attended St. Peter's College in Muenster, Saskatchewan, and then St. Paul's University in Ottawa where he obtained licence degrees in Philosophy and Theology. In 1991 he was named a Monsignor (Prelate of Honour). He was General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1990 to 1996, a position he left when he was appointed Bishop of Saskatoon. In 2000 he was named Archbishop of Winnipeg. He is a member of the Roman Catholic / Methodist International Dialogue and is on the board of Southdown Institute in Aurora.
As part of the Somerville Lecture, which is sponsored by the Catholic Register, Archbishop Weisgerber will deliver this same lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 31, 2006, at the Newman Centre Chapel, University of Toronto, 89 St. George Street, Toronto.