Fonds - Margaret O'Gara fonds

Identity area

Reference code

Title

Margaret O'Gara fonds

Date(s)

  • 1959-2012 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

29.55 meters of textual material, 1 floppy disk

Context area

Name of creator

(1947-2012)

Biographical history

Margaret O’Gara (1947-2012) was a regular member of the Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College, from 1976 to 2012. She obtained her B.A. in English and Philosophy at Trinity College in Washington, DC in 1969, followed by her M.A.R. in Theology at Yale Divinity School in 1971. She completed her Ph.D. in Theology at USMC in 1980 and was promoted to Assistant Professor. She became Associate Professor in 1985, Professor in 1998, and Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Chair in Systematic Theology in 2007.

O’Gara’s theological specialty was ecumenical theology, the personally engaged study of the divisions between the Christian churches for the sake of overcoming them. Besides her teaching, research, writing, and extensive public lecturing, she served on five official national or international dialogues between the Roman Catholic Church and other churches: the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada (1976-93); the Disciples of Christ-Roman Catholic International Commission for Dialogue (1983-2012); the U.S. Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue (1994-2012); the Lutheran-Roman Catholic International Commission for Unity (1995-2007); and the Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue of Canada (2008-2012). She was a member of Bridgefolk, a North American organization for dialogue between Roman Catholics and Mennonites (2002-2012). She served as president of the North American Academy of Ecumenists (1987-89) and the Catholic Theological Society of America (2007-2008). She was a member of the Toronto Archdiocesan Ecumenical Commission (1988-2012). She was a board member of the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research (1990-2012). She served as the anglophone theological advisor to the delegation from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops at the World Synod of Bishops (2001). And she was chair of the Theology Department, Toronto School of Theology (2003-2005).

Besides roughly 80 articles, O’Gara published three books: Triumph in Defeat: Infallibility, Vatican I, and the French Minority Bishops (Catholic University of America Press, 1988), The Ecumenical Gift Exchange (Liturgical Press, 1998) and No Turning Back: the Future of Ecumenism (Liturgical Press, 2014).

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Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This fonds consists of teaching material, correspondence (professional and personal), and materials related to Professor Margaret O’Gara’s professional activities, organizational work, and various appointments.
There are seventeen material categories:

  • Course Material
  • Service Material
  • News Articles
  • Correspondence
  • Faculty material
  • University material
  • Toronto School of Theology
  • Misc. Interfaith Work
  • O'Gara Published Work
  • Catholic Theological Society of America
  • Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research
  • North American Academy of Ecumenists
  • Anglican-Roman Catholic Archival Project
  • Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission
  • Disciples of Christ Roman Catholic International Commission
  • Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission
  • Misc. Conferences

A detailed description of the material in each category is provided in the Margaret O'Gara Fonds finding guide.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

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Some files are restricted

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Language of material

  • English
  • French
  • German
  • Latin

Script of material

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Finding aids

Finding aid is available

Uploaded finding aid

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Dates of creation revision deletion

Created by E. Beaubien, 22 January 2018
Edited by J Barr, 29 June 2018

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