The Institute for Research on Vatican II in Canada was founded in 2012 at the University of St. Michael’s College through the generous assistance of the Dominican Institute of Toronto. As an academic institute in the context of Canada’s largest research university, it: gathers primary material related to the Second Vatican Council in Anglophone Canada and functions as a repository for this data; supports and promotes advanced level research on the Council in Canada; cultivates collaboration across disciplines; and, disseminates its research through conferences, colloquia and scholarly publications.
The Director of the Research Institute is Prof. Michael Attridge who is an Associate Professor of Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. He earned his PhD from St. Michael’s in 2004 with a dissertation on the christology of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) in relation to the conciliar constitution, Dei Verbum. His teaching responsibilities at the Faculty include courses in christology, ecclesiology, influential theologians and theological movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the theology, reception and hermeneutics of Vatican II.
Michael is appointed by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops to its national dialogue with the Lutheran Church Canada. His most recent books are: Jews and Catholics Together. Celebrating the Legacy of Nostra Aetate (Novalis, 2007); and Vatican II. Expériences canadiennes – Canadian Experiences (University of Ottawa, 2011). He is currently working on a manuscript to publish the council diaries of the late Anglican theologian, Eugene R. Fairweather, one of two Canadian ecumenical observers at Vatican II. His current research is a collaborative project studying the impact of Vatican II on Canadian Church and society fifty years after the council.
Advisory Board:
Prof. Michael Attridge (Director)
Prof. Darren Dias, OP
Prof. Mark McGowan, St. Michael’s, University of Toronto
Prof. Gilles Routhier, Dean of Theology, Laval University
Prof. Elizabeth Smyth, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto
Address:
Institute for Research on Vatican II in Canada
Kelly Library
University of St Michael’s College
81 St Mary Street
Toronto, ON M5S 1J4