Anglican fell in love with Catholicism, became a priest, and handled biggest issues of local church
The B.C. Catholic
The ordained convert who handles the archdiocese’s most sensitive information is saying goodbye to loads of paperwork and hello to retirement.
Chancellor Father Bruce McAllister has just left his office after nearly 10 years of hard work that rarely meets the public eye.
“Canon law is a very intensive subject,” said Father McAllister. He has two degrees from St. Paul’s University and the University of Ottawa on the subject.
“There is a lot of work to do in that area which requires sensitivity and a very high level of confidentiality.”
The job of chancellor includes advising the archbishop, handling questions on Church policy, and handling grievances against the Church or members of it, some of which could stem from alleged events that happened years, even decades, ago.
He also handles dispensations for marriages. Aided by staff member Josephine Motha, Father McAllister helps people seeking annulments by explaining procedures and documents and filing paperwork.
“Father McAllister is very thorough with canon law and I have learned quite a lot from him,” said Motha, who met him in 2007. “He is approachable and will clear all doubts in a way I would understand.”
In fact, it’s a love for precise language and finding truth in technicalities that drew this skilled administrator to the Catholic Church.
Father McAllister grew up in North Battleford, Sask., a small city on the highway between Saskatoon and Edmonton. He grew up Anglican and was very active in his church, even making time to teach Sunday school and serve on his parish council while working in broadcasting.
He felt called to serve in a bigger way and became an Anglican minister for 21 years.
“During all that time, I always had a very positive view of the Roman Catholic church. There are many affinities between Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism, especially in the ways in which we worship.”
He also joined ecumenical talks, interested in finding similarities between Christian denominations.
At one clergy study day in the 1980s, he and priests of various backgrounds were talking and came to agreements on some fine points about being an ordained cleric.
Then, during vespers at the end of the day, “I remember feeling a very strong call to the Roman Catholic Church, but I was a married Anglican minister.”
That call to the Catholic Church didn’t go away, and it recaptured his attention about a decade later, when he read the Catechism of the Catholic Church during another ecumenical effort.
“I found it to be a marvellous document because it covers everything: our Church history, our faith as it is expressed in the creeds, and our moral theology.”
In 1998, Father McAllister and his wife Linda were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He then began studying for the priesthood.
During his studies, he spent a summer working in the marriage tribunal.
“I was quite captivated by the process and how meticulous it is. At the same time, it seeks to be very pastoral and discover the truth about marriage and human relationships.”
Father McAllister sought and received approval to become a Catholic priest from Pope John Paul II in 2001. He is one of very few married Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Vancouver.
His wife Linda served the Anglican Church, and now the Catholic Church, alongside him. “She has been extremely supportive. We were both received into the Church and confirmed at the same time.”
After his retirement, the two will spend more time together, travelling to Saskatchewan, cruising around the Maritimes, and joining a Catholic movement or two.
“There are a lot of things that we’re interested in doing that we haven’t previously had the time to do.”
Though he’s left the chancellor’s post behind, he’s hanging on to some office duties. Father McAllister will still be a judge in the marriage tribunal, and he’ll help out in St. Clare of Assisi Parish.
