Ottawa Archbishop Emeritus Marcel Gervais, who shepherded the bilingual diocese covering Canada’s capital from 1989 to 2007, died Aug. 6, Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Emeritus Terrence Prendergast announced in an Instagram post.
“Commended to our prayers: Archbishop Marcel Gervais who had a passion for evangelization (his motto « evangelizare » means to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and God’s Kingdom); he passed away Sunday evening, funeral plans are pending: R.I.P.”
Archbishop Gervais was at the Bruyere Palliative Care Centre in Ottawa when he died.
Official announcement from Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
Born in St. Elie, Man., in 1931, Gervais went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont. He was ordained a priest in 1958 and was sent to study sacred Scripture in Rome and Jerusalem.
Born in St. Elie, Man., in 1931, Gervais went to study for the priesthood at St. Peter’s Seminary in London, Ont. He was ordained a priest in 1958 and was sent to study sacred Scripture in Rome and Jerusalem.
He returned to London to teach at St. Peter’s Seminary and in 1974 was asked by Bishop Emmett Carter to take over as director of the Divine Word International Centre of Religious Education, a centre for adult education in the spirit of Vatican founded by then-London Bishop Emmett Carter.
Father Gervais was ordained an auxiliary bishop of London in 1980 and subsequently was made Bishop of Sault Saint Marie Diocese. After four years he was named Archbishop of Ottawa, where he retired in 2007.
He authored the scripture-study series Journey, which was translated into various languages including French and Chinese. He served as vice president and president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In 2003, Archbishop Gervais issued the decree establishing the Companions of the Cross as a society of apostolic life. In June of that same year, the Servants of the Cross, a group of sisters following the spirituality of the Companions of the Cross, was established.
The death of Archbishop Gervais left the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA Canada) offering its appreciation for his establishing its Canadian office and becoming its first chair.
In 2003, he accepted an invitation from the Holy See’s Congregation of the Eastern Churches to consider establishing a national office of CNEWA in Ottawa. Working with the papal agency’s leadership in New York and Rome, he established the office and served as its first chair until his retirement in 2007. “After retiring, he continued to share in the mission and hope of CNEWA Canada, whose staff remembered him for his good sense of humour, which brought joy to all those around him,” a CNEWA statement said.
“We could not be more grateful to Archbishop Gervais for accepting the call to set up a CNEWA office in Canada and for his witness to Christ’s love for the universal church, which he clearly demonstrated to everyone he met,” said Msgr. Peter I. Vaccari, CNEWA’s president.
“He saw the need for Canadians to pray, to learn more about and provide practical assistance to those served by the Eastern churches throughout the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India and Eastern Europe.”
During his tenure as chair of the board, Archbishop Gervais recruited a dynamic staff dedicated to the mission, led by Carl Hétu, which raised consciousness of the humanitarian and pastoral needs of the Eastern churches and launched campaigns to support them.
Ottawa-Cornwall Archbishop Marcel Damphousse, current chair of the CNEWA Canada board, called Archbishop Gervais’s passing “an incredible loss” for CNEWA Canada and the Canadian Church.
“We give thanks to God for the gift of his life and ministry and for the important work he did in supporting our sisters and brothers from the Eastern churches. In his name, we will continue our important mission in bringing hope, peace and prosperity to those in our world who so desperately need it.”
Today, CNEWA is active in 13 countries including Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Ukraine.
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