Thomas Christopher Collins

His Eminence Thomas Christopher Collins
Cardinal-Archbishop of Toronto
Province	Ontario
Diocese	Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
See	Toronto
Appointed	16 December 2006
Installed	30 January 2007
Predecessor	Aloysius Ambrozic
Other posts	Cardinal-Priest of San Patrizio
Orders
Ordination	5 May 1973 by Paul Francis Reding
Consecration	14 May 1997 by Anthony Frederick Tonnos
Created Cardinal	18 February 2012
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Birth name	Thomas Christopher Collins
Born	(1947-01-16) 16 January 1947 Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Coadjutor Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta (1997) Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta (1997–1999) Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton (1999) Archbishop of Edmonton (1999–2006) Apostolic Administrator of Saint Paul in Alberta (2001)
Coat of arms

Styles of Thomas Christopher Collins
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Thomas Christopher Collins (born 16 January 1947) is a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the tenth and current Archbishop of Toronto, having previously served as Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta (1997–1999) and Archbishop of Edmonton (1999–2006). On 6 January 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him a cardinal at the 18 February 2012 consistory.

Early life and education

Collins was born in Guelph, Ontario, the son of the circulation manager of The Guelph Mercury and a legal secretary; he has two older sisters.^[1] As a child he attended and was an altar server at the Church of Our Lady.^[1] He attended Bishop Macdonell High School, where he was inspired by one of his English teachers to join the priesthood.^[1]

Earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. Jerome College, Waterloo in 1969, Collins was ordained to the diaconate on 14 May 1972.^[1] In 1973, he received a Master of Arts in English from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Theology from St. Peter's Seminary, London.^[1]

Priesthood

Collins was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Hamilton, ON by Bishop Paul Reding on 5 May 1973.^[2] He then served as associate pastor at Holy Rosary Parish in Burlington and at Christ the King Cathedral, as well as teacher and chaplain at Cathedral Boys' High School.^[1] He furthered his studies in Rome at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, from which he obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture in 1978.^[3]

Upon his return to Ontario in 1978, Collins served as a lecturer in English at King's College and in Scripture at St. Peter's Seminary, where he later became spiritual director (1981) and associate professor of Scripture (1985).^[1] Returning to Rome, he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1986.^[3] His doctoral dissertation was entitled: "Apocalypse 22:6–21 as the Focal Point of Moral Teaching and Exhortation in the Apocalypse."^[1]

After becoming associate editor of Discover the Bible in 1989, Collins returned to St. Peter's Seminary as Dean of Theology and vice-rector in 1992.^[1] He later served as rector of St. Peter's from 1995 to 1997.^[3]

Episcopal ministry

On 25 March 1997, Collins was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta by Pope John Paul II.^[2] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 14 May from Bishop Anthony Tonnos, with Bishops Raymond Roy and John Sherlock serving as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of Christ the King.^[2] He selected as his episcopal motto: "Deum Adora", meaning, "Worship God" (Revelation 22:9).^[1]

Collins succeeded Bishop Roy as the fifth Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta upon the latter's retirement on 30 June 1997.^[2] He became a member of the National Commission of Theology in Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) that same year.^[1] He was promoted to Coadjutor Archbishop of Edmonton on 18 February 1999, and later succeeded Archbishop Joseph MacNeil as the sixth Archbishop of Edmonton on the following 7 June.^[2] Within the CCCB, he served as Chairman of the National Commission of Theology (1999–2001), member of the Permanent Council (1999–2003), and Chairman of the National Commission on Christian Unity (2001–2003).^[1] He was also a member of the organizing committee for World Youth Day 2002, which was held in Toronto. From 1999 to 2007, he was President of the Alberta Conference of Catholic Bishops. In addition to his duties as ordinary of the Edmonton Archdiocese, he was Apostolic Administrator of Saint Paul in Alberta from 16 March to 8 September 2001.^[2]

After serving in Edmonton for nearly eight years, Collins was named the tenth Archbishop of Toronto by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 December 2006.^[2] He succeeded Aloysius Ambrozic, and was formally installed at St. Michael's Cathedral on 30 January 2007.^[1] He is heavily involved in the pro-life movement. Archbishop Collins is a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 5 January 2010.

Archbishop Collins was the apostolic visitor to the Archdiocese of Cashel in Ireland following the publication of the Ryan and Murphy Reports in 2009. He was part of a team that included Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Cardinal Archbishop Emeritus of Westminster, who inspected Cardinal Brady's Archdiocese of Armagh, Sean O'Malley of Boston, who inspected the Archdiocese of Dublin, and Ottawa's Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, who looked at the west of Ireland (Archdiocese of Tuam), while Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan was apostolic visitor to the Irish seminaries.^[4]

On 18 February 2012 he was created Cardinal-Priest of San Patrizio. He will retain voting rights in a potential conclave until his 80th birthday. In addition to his other duties in the Roman Curia Cardinal Collins was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.

See also

• Archbishop of Toronto
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto
• Apostolic visitation to Ireland

References

External links

• Salt+Light TV Interview: Archbishop Thomas Collins – Witness
• Salt+Light TV Interview: A Cardinal in the Making: Archbishop Thomas Collins

v t e Catholic Church Organizations, papacy, teachings and liturgical traditions History Jesus Twelve Apostles Early Christianity History of the papacy Ecumenical Councils Missions Great Schism of East Crusades Great Schism of West Protestant Reformation Counter-Reformation Catholic Church by country Hierarchy Pope Cardinals Patriarchs Major Archbishops Primates Metropolitans Archbishops Diocesan Bishops Coadjutor Bishops Auxiliary Bishops Titular Bishops Bishops Emeriti Theology Body and Soul Divine Grace Dogma One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church Original sin Salvation Sermon on the Mount The Ten Commandments Trinity Worship Sacraments Anointing of the Sick Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Holy Orders Matrimony Penance Mariology Roman Catholic Mariology Assumption History of Mariology Immaculate Conception Mariology of the popes Mariology of the saints Mother of God Perpetual Virginity Veneration Doctors of the Church Gregory the Great Ambrose Augustine of Hippo Jerome John Chrysostom Basil of Caesarea Gregory of Nazianzus Athanasius of Alexandria Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Jerusalem John of Damascus Bede the Venerable Ephrem the Syrian Thomas Aquinas Bonaventure Anselm of Canterbury Isidore of Seville Peter Chrysologus Leo the Great Peter Damian Bernard of Clairvaux Hilary of Poitiers Alphonsus Liguori Francis de Sales Peter Canisius John of the Cross Robert Bellarmine Albertus Magnus Anthony of Padua Lawrence of Brindisi Teresa of Ávila Catherine of Siena Thérèse of Lisieux John of Ávila Hildegard of Bingen Pope Francis Conclave Inauguration Theology Canonizations Visits Preceding popes Pope Benedict XVI Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul I Pope Paul VI Pope John XXIII Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XI Pope Benedict XV Pope Pius X Pope Leo XIII Religious institutes and similar Assumptionists Augustinians Benedictines Capuchin Order Carmelites Carthusians Congregations of Holy Cross Dominican Order Franciscan orders Jesuits Oratory of Saint Philip Neri Vatican II Definition of the Church Dei Verbum Gaudium et Spes Lumen Gentium Nostra Aetate Sacrosanctum Concilium Particular Churches and liturgical rites Alexandrian Coptic Ethiopic Antiochian Maronite Syriac Syro-Malankara Armenian Armenian Byzantine Albanian Belarusian Bulgarian Croatian Greek Hungarian Italo-Albanian Macedonian Melkite Romanian Russian Ruthenian Slovak Ukrainian East Syrian Chaldean Syro-Malabar Latin Roman Anglican Use Sarum Ambrosian Mozarabic Catholicism portal Pope portal