Mark McGowan

Dr. Mark McGowan is a Professor of History and Celtic Studies and the Interim Principal of the University of St. Michael’s College for the 2020-2022 academic years.

St. Michael’s Principal from 2002–2011, Dr. McGowan is an historian renowned for his work on the Catholic Church in Canada and the Great Irish Famine, as well as the lasting impact that the Famine’s mass migration had on Canada.

He has won multiple awards for both his teaching and writing, and is well known for his work in Catholic education, including the history of Catholic education in Ontario. He has served as a consultant to the Institute for Catholic Education. His latest book, It’s Our Turn: Carrying on the Work of the Pioneers of Catholic Education in Ontario was published by Novalis in 2019.

He is cross-appointed to U of T, where he holds tenure and has served as Deputy Chair of the History department (2017-19), as Senior Academic Advisor to the Dean of Arts & Science, International (2014-17) and as Acting Vice-Provost, Students, for the University of Toronto for part of 2013.

  • Areas of Expertise
    • The Great Irish Famine, 1845–1851
    • Irish and Scots in Canada
    • Religious history
    • Religion and the media
    • Collective memory
    • Ethnicity
    • Social Christianity and social justice
    • History of Canadian broadcasting
    • The Great War, 1914–1918
    • History of Catholic education in Canada
  • Links
  • Publications

    Refereed Monographs, Edited Books, Textbooks

    It’s Our Turn: Carrying on the Work of the Pioneers of Catholic Education in Ontario. Toronto: Novalis, 2019. Textbook.

    The Imperial Irish: Canada’s Irish Catholics Fight the Great War. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017.

    Mark G. McGowan and Michael E. Vance, eds. Canadian Catholic Historical Association Historical Studies 81 Occasional Paper: Irish Catholic Halifax from the Napoleonic Wars to the Great War (2015). 336 pp.

    The Great War As I Saw It by Canon Frederick R. Scott. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, Carleton Library Series, 2014, Introduction of 32,000 words, plus glossary.

    Death or Canada: The Great Famine Migration and Toronto, 1847. Montreal and Toronto: Novalis-Bayard, 2009.

    Creating Canadian Historical Memory: The Case of the Irish Famine Migration Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, Canada’s Ethnic Groups Series, Booklet No. 30, 2006.

    Michael Power: The Struggle to Build the Catholic Church on the Canadian Frontier McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005, 392 pp.

    “The Waning of the Green”: Catholics, the Irish and Identity in Toronto, 1887–1922. McGill-Queen’s University Press, February 1999. 419 pp.

    Planted by Flowing Water: The Diocese of Ottawa, 1847–1997. (Co-edited with Pierre Hurtubise and Pierre Savard). Ottawa: Novalis, 1998.

    Catholics at the “Gathering Place”: Historical Essays on the Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841–1991 (Co-edited with Brian P. Clarke) Toronto: Canadian Catholic Historical Association, 1993.

    Prophets, Priests and Prodigals: Readings in Canadian Religious History, (Co-edited with David Marshall) Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1992.

     

    Articles & Chapters

    “Old sources, new discoveries: in search of the 1,490 assisted immigrants from Strokestown to Canada, 1847,” Archivium Hibernicum, (2019): 373–95.

    Francis Patrick O’Connor, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16 (1931–1940) Toronto: University of Toronto Press (forthcoming 2020).

    John J O’Gorman, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16 (1931–40). Toronto: University of Toronto Press, (forthcoming 2019).

    Neil McNeil, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16 (1931–40). Toronto: University of Toronto Press (forthcoming 2019).

    “Uncomfortable Pews: The Catholic Bishops and the Making of Confederation, a Reappraisal,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies, 84 (2018): 7–25.

    “Rethinking the Irish Famine Orphans of Quebec, 1847­–1848” in Christine Kinealy, Jason King and Gerard Moran, eds., Children and the Great Hunger in Ireland. Hamden, CN: Quinnipiac University Press, The Great Hunger Institute, 2018. Pp. 95–122. 

    “Canada’s Non-Francophone Catholics and the South African War, 1899–1902,” in Gordon Heath, ed, Empire from the Margins: Canadian Minorities and the South African War. Hamilton: McMaster University & Pickwick Publications, 2017. Pp. 36–68.

    “The Famine Plot Revisited: A Reassessment of the Great Irish Famine as Genocide” Genocide Studies International 9 (2017): 87–104.

    “Migration, Mobility, and Murder: Assisted Immigration from the Mahon Estate, Strokestown, County Roscommon, Ireland, 1847” Breac (online journal of Irish Studies, Notre Dame University), 2017.

    “The Imperial Irish of Halifax, 1899–1919” in Mark G. McGowan and Michael Vance, eds. Canadian Catholic Historical Association Historical Studies 81 Occasional Paper (2015): 224–61.

    “Religion, Politics, and the Canadian State: A Historical Perspective,” in John Milloy, ed., Faith and Politics Matters. Toronto: Novalis, 2015. Pp. 3­–17.

    “Tales and Trials of a Double Minority: The Irish Catholic Experience in British North America, 1760–1960,” in Hilary Carey and Colin Barr, eds. Religion and the Greater Ireland. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015.

    “A Tale of Two Famines: Famine Memory in Nova Scotia, Canada” in Patrick Fitzgerald, Gerald Moran & Christine Kinealy, eds., Irish Hunger and Migration: Myth, Memory, and Memorialization. Quinnipiac: The Great Hunger Institute, 2015.

    “Remembering Canada: The Place of Canada in the Memorializing of the Great Irish Famine,” Atlantic Studies, Vol. 11, no. 3 (2014): 365–82.

    “Contemporary Links between Canadian and Irish Famine Commemoration” in Marguerite Corporaal, et al. eds. Global Legacies of the Irish Famine: Transnational and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2014. Pp 267–84.

    “Canadian Catholics, Loyalty, and the British Empire, 1812–1902,” for Allan Blackstock & Frank O’Gorman, eds., Loyalism and the Formation of the British World. London: Boydell & Brewer Publishers, UK, 2014.

    “‘We are All Involved in the Same Cause’: English-speaking Catholics and the Great War,” in Gordon Heath, ed, Canadian Churches and the Great War. Hamilton: McMaster University & Pickwick Publications, 2014.

    “Church of the Air: Roman Catholics, Religious Programming and Regulation in Canadian Broadcasting, 1918–2008.” In Lori Beaman and Winnifred F Sullivan, eds. Varieties of Religious Establishment. London: Ashgate, 2013.

    “Michael Power, the Catholic Church and the Evangelization of the First Nations Peoples of Western Upper Canada, 1841–1848,” in David A. Wilson and Greame Morton, eds., Irish and Scottish Encounter s With Indigenous Peoples. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.

    “Letters from the Wilderness: Michael Power and Building the Church on the Canadian Frontier” in Rita Librandi, ed., Lingue e Testi Della Reforme Cattoliche in Europa e Nelle Americhe, sec. XVI-XXI (Orientale University, Napoli, 2013).

    “Pregnant with Peril: Canadian Catholicism and its Relations the Catholic Churches in Newfoundland, 1840–1949,” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies, Vol. 28, no. 2 (Fall 2013): 193–218.

    “The Canadian Irish Diaspora and Toronto, Canada West 1847,” John Crowley and William Smyth, eds., Irish Historical Atlas of the Great Famine. Cork: University College Cork Press, 2012.

    “Vignette of Grosse Ile,” John Crowley and William Smyth, eds., Irish Historical Atlas of the Great Famine. Cork: University College Cork Press, 2012.

    “The Peoples University of the Air: St. Francis Xavier University, Social Christianity and the Creation of CJFX,” Acadiensis (Winter/Spring 2012).

    “The Canadian Irish Diaspora and Toronto, Canada West 1847,” John Crowley and William Smyth, eds., Irish Historical Atlas of the Great Famine. Cork: University College Cork Press, 2012.

    “Grosse Ile,” John Crowley and William Smyth, eds., Irish Historical Atlas of the Great Famine. Cork: University College Cork Press, 2012.

    “Famine, Facts, and Fabrication: An Examination of Diaries from the Irish Famine Migration to Canada,” Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, (Spring 2009).

    “The Fulton Sheen Affair: Religious Controversy, Nationalism, and Commercialism in the Early Days of Canadian Television, 1952-1960.” Canadian Catholic Historical Association Historical Studies 75 (2009).

    “Between King, Kaiser and Canada: Irish Catholic Canadians, The Easter Rising, and the Great War,” Irish Nationalism in Canada,” edited by David A. Wilson. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2009.

    “Catholics (Anglopone and Allophone),” in David Seljak and Paul Bramadat eds. Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008. 49 pp.

    “John Webster Grant’s Influence on Canadian Catholic Historiography,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies, volume 74 (2008): 105–111.

    “Where Goes the Parade?: Expanding the Historiography of the Orange Order in Canada,” in Orangeism and the British Empire, edited by David Wilson Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007.

    “Archbishop Charles Hugh Gauthier,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15, (1921–1930). University of Toronto Press, 2005.

    “Alfred E. Burke,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 15 (1921–1930). University of Toronto Press, 2005.

    “The Maritimes’ Region and the Building of the Canadian Church: The Case of the Diocese of Antigonish after Confederation,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies 70 (2004): 27–48.

    “What Did Michael Power Really Want? Questions Regarding the Origins of Catholic Separate Schools in Canada West,” CCHA Historical Studies 68 (2002): 85–104.

    “Irish Catholics” in Paul Robert Magosci, ed., The Peoples of Canada: An Encyclopaedia for the Country. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario/University of Toronto Press, 1999. [30,000 word entry]

    “Ecumenism” in Planted by Flowing Water: The Diocese of Ottawa, 1847–1997, ed. by Pierre Hurtubise, omi, Pierre Savard and Mark G. McGowan. (Ottawa: Novalis, 1998).

    “Denis O’Connor,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol XIV. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.

    “Fergus McEvay,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. XIV. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998.

    “Harvesting the ‘Red Vineyard’: Catholic Religious Culture in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914–1919,” CCHA Historical Studies 64 (1998).

    “Life Outside the Cloister: Some Reflections on the Writing of the History of the Catholic Church in English Canada, 1983–1996,” CCHA Historical Studies 63 (1997): 123–33.

    “The Catholic Church in Canada,” for The New Catholic Encyclopedia for Faith and Living ed. by Monika Helwig and Michael Glazier Collegeville, Minn: The Liturgical Press, 1994.

    “Toronto’s English-speaking Catholics, Immigration, and the Making of a Canadian Catholic Identity, 1900–1930” in Creed and Culture: The Place of English-speaking Catholics in Canadian Society, 1750–1930 edited by Gerald Stortz and Terrence Murphy, for McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1993. Pp. 204–45.

    “To Share the Burdens of Empire: Toronto’s Catholics and the Great War, 1914–1918,” in Catholics at the “Gathering Place”: Historical Essays on the Archdiocese of Toronto, 1841–1991. edited by Mark G. McGowan and Brian P. Clarke. Toronto: Canadian Catholic Historical Association, 1993. Pp. 177–207.

    “Bishop Alexander MacDonell,” Volume XIII, 1901–1910, Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Edited by Ramsay Cook. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

    “Patrick Boyle,” Volume XIII, 1901–1910, Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Edited by Ramsay Cook. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

    “Sir Frank Smith,” Volume XIII, 1901–1910, Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Edited by Ramsay Cook. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993.

    “Rethinking Catholic Protestant Relations in Canada: The Episcopal Reports of 1900–1901” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies 59 (1992): 11–35.

    “Ukrainian Catholics and Roman Catholics in Canada, 1891–1948,” for Ukrainian Centennial Historical Conference, 1990, and Stella Hryniuk and Lubomyr Luciuk, eds., The Ukrainians in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.

    “Coming Out of the Cloister: Some Reflections on Developments in the Study of Religion in Canada, 1980–1990,” The International Journal of Canadian Studies 1–2 (Spring–Fall, 1990): 175–202.

    “The De-greening of the Irish: Toronto’s Irish Catholic Press, Catholicism, Imperialism and the Growth of a New Identity, 1887–1914,” Canadian Historical Association, Historical Papers, 1989.

    “‘A Watchful Eye’: The Catholic Church Extension Society and Ukrainian Immigration to Canada, 1908–1930” Canadian Protestant and Catholic Missions, 1820–1939: Historical Essays in Honour of John Webster Grant, edited by C. Thomas McIntire and John S. Moir. New York: Peter Lang, 1988.

     

    Non-Refereed Publications

    “Canada’s Irish Catholics, the Great War, and the Irish Question” Online Publication, RTE, March 2020. [Commissioned] https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/canadas-irish-catholics-the-great-war-and-the-irish-question

    “Ireland and Irish Diaspora Engagement in the Great War,” The World Remembers —Canadian War Museum, Fall 2019.

    “The Longs of King Street,” Heritage Whitby Advisory Committee,” Fall Newsletter, 2019.

    “Irish Canadians,” The World Remembers, Website Commemorating the Canadian Participation in the Great War, 2017. http://www.theworldremembers.org/

    Regular Column, CPCO Principal Connections, “People of Courage, People of Faith,” since 2011 features articles on: Bishop Olivier Briand, Teresa Dease, IBVM, Mother Bernard Dinan, CSJ, Michael Power, Bishop Armand de Charbonnel, Archbishop John Joseph Lynch, Patrick White, Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Rev. Major J.J. O’Gorman, Archbishop Neil McNeil, Napoleon Belcourt, Mother Genevieve Williams OSU, Michael Francis Fallon, John Read Teefy, and Martin J Quinn.

    “Launching Trial Balloons and Other Dances with Clio: John Sargent Moir and the Writing of Canadian Religious History,” Presidential Address, Canadian Society of Church History, Papers (2013).

    “Rendering Unto Caesar: Catholics, the State, and the Idea of a Christian Canada,” Canadian Society of Church History, Papers (2012).

    The Enduring Gift: Catholic Education in the Province of Ontario Toronto: Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, 2001. (Revised and expanded 2011). With commentary on a feature film of the same name, Salt & Light Television.

    “Air Wars: Religion, Radio and Regulation in Canada, 1926–1936,” Proceedings of the Canadian Society of Church History, Vancouver Conference, 2008 (2009), 25 pp.

    “What Happened to a Christian Canada?: A Catholic Response to Mark Noll” Evangelical Fellowship of Canada website Church and Faith Trends, Fall 2008.

    “St. Paul’s Cemetery, Toronto,” with Patrick D.E. McGowan, for the Ireland Park Foundation and the Archdiocese of Toronto. September 2007.

    “The Future of Irish Studies in Canada,” Library and Archives Canada Website, The Shamrock and the Maple Leaf, March 2007.

    “Toronto and the Irish Famine Migration of 1847,” Ireland Park Foundation Website, (Fall 2006) and History Channel Website (Fall 2006).

    “Distinctly Catholic: The Development of Catholic Schools in Ontario,” Peterborough-Victoria-Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board Website,” (2006): www.pvnccdsb.on.ca/library

    “Monsignor Joseph O’Neill,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Bulletin, Spring, 2006.

    “Foreword,” in James Mulligan, CSC, Catholic Education: Ensuring the Future. Ottawa: Novalis, 2005.

    “John Sargent Moir,” an Introduction to Paul Laverdure, ed., Christianity in Canada: The Collected Essays of John S. Moir. Yorkton: Redemptorist Publications, 2002.

    The Enduring Gift: Catholic Education in the Province of Ontario Toronto: Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, 2001. 13 pp. Now in second print run (2002) of 15,000.

    “The Development of Catholic Education in Ontario,” for Our Catholic Schools, published by the Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, Toronto, 2000.

    Partners in Faith: Readings in the History of Catholic Education in Ontario. (Co-edited with Robert Dixon). Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 1996, revised in 2000 and 2002, and pending new release in paperback.

    “Remembering the Great Irish Famine: Canadian Images and Realities,” Catholic New Times (October 1995).

    “The Catholic Restoration: Pius X, Denis O’Connor and Popular Catholicism in Toronto, 1899­–1908” Canadian Catholic Historical Studies 54 (1987).

    “‘Religious Duties and Patriotic Endeavours’: The Catholic Church Extension Society, French Canada and the Prairie West, 1908–1916”, Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies 51 (1984).

    “‘We Endure What We Cannot Cure’: John Joseph Lynch and-Protestant-Roman Catholic Relations in Toronto, 1864–1875” Canadian Society of Church History Papers (1984).

     

    Manuscripts in Preparation or Submitted

    Finding Molly Johnson: Irish Famine Orphans and the Canadian Experience (prospectus with McGill-Queen’s University Press)

    Pilgrims in the Snow: A History of Canadian Catholics (in research stage)

    The Strokestown Estate and the Great Famine co-edited with Jason King, anthology featuring the work of the editors and Ciaran Reilly, Christine Kinealy, and Caroilin Callery.

    “Catholic Orphans in Protestant Towns: Christian Churches and the Irish Famine Orphans in New Brunswick and Canada West, 1847–1851,” for special volume edited by Professor William Jenkins, in contract with McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    “When Famine ‘Victims’ Challenge Historians: The Case of the Strokestown ‘1490’ and the Assisted Migration of 1847,” in Gerard Moran & Christine Kinealy, eds, Forgotten Famines Cork: Cork University Press, forthcoming 2020.

    “The Letters of Major Denis Mahon: New Perspectives on an Old Question of the Great Irish Famine” Ireland Reads (online Journal, forthcoming 2020).

    “Canada’s Irish Catholics and their American Cousins During the Great War, 1914–1918,” in Mary C. Kelly, ed. Navigating Historical Crosscurrents in the Irish Atlantic: Essays for Catherine Shannon. Feschrift for Professor Emerita, Katherine Shannon, Cork: University of Cork Press, 2020.

    “History the Hard Way: Tracking 1,490 Assisted Immigrants from the Mahon Estate, Roscommon, Ireland, to British North America (1847),” in Peter Ludlow, ed., Essays in Honour of Terrence Punch (forthcoming 2021).

  • Presentations

    Papers Presented at Meetings and Symposia, Keynote Addresses & Conference Participation

    “A Tale of Two Colonies: Irish Catholic Prelates, Nationalism & Ultramontanism on the Frontiers of Empire—Melbourne, Australia & Toronto, Canada,” Conference: Translating European Culture to Colonial Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Australia, International Keynote, 17 February 2020.

    “In Search of the 1490: Tracking Irish Famine Migration from Ireland To Canada,” Social Science History Association, Annual Conference, Palmer House Hotel, Chicago, 22 November 2019.

    “Historic Leaders of Catholic Education in Ontario,” ECCODE (English Catholic Council of Ontario Directors of Education), Toronto, Hotel Intercontinental, 28 November 2019. Invited

    “Suffer the Children: Irish Orphan Children and Churches in Montreal, 1847,” Annual St. Patrick’s Society Lecture, hosted by the School of Irish Canadian Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 24 October 2019. Invited.

    “Doing History the Hard Way: Uncovering the Assisted Immigrants from Strokestown, County Roscommon, 1847,” Humanities Research Institute, Maynooth University, 26 September 2019. Invited.

    “Irish Famine Orphans in Montreal: A Preliminary Study,” with students from SMC457, Irish Famine Summer School, Quinnipiac University, 15 June 2019.

    “Masters of Their Own Destiny: Rethinking the Fate of the 1,490 Assisted Immigrants from the Mahon Estate,” Irish Famine Summer School, Quinnipiac University, 15 June 2019.

    “Searching for Molly Johnson: Conflicting Narratives of the Irish Famine Orphans in Canada, 1847–1852” Canadian Historical Association, 5 June 2019, University of British Columbia.

    “The Discovery of Famine Migrants: The Case of Major Denis Mahon’s Assisted Migrants, 1847,” Parks Canada and Irish Heritage Quebec, at St. Patrick’s Hall, Quebec City, 12 May 2019.

    “Voices, Victims and Virtue: Rethinking Irish Famine Orphans in Canada,” Special Address, Embassy of Ireland, Ottawa, 8 May 2019 and by invitation from Parks Canada, Fort Henry, Kingston, Ontario, 10 May 2019.

    “Irish Famine Orphans and Their Reception in British North America,” Department of History, University of Victoria, Public Lecture, 17 April 2019.

    “Religion, Catholics and Canada during the Great War,” Seminar, Centre for the Study of Religion and Culture, University of Victoria, 17 April 2017.

    “Print is Dead? The Creation of the Book & Media Studies Program and Print Studio at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto,” University of Victoria MacPherson Library, Victoria BC, 16 April 2019.

    “Irish Famine Orphans in Canada,” Celtic Speakers Series, St. Michael’s College, 26 February 2019.

    Keynote Address “Catholic Schools, History and the Challenges to Trustees,” Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, Annual General Meeting, Plenary, 16 January 2019.

    Keynote Address: “Challenges to Catholic Education in Ontario,” London Catholic District School Board, 16 November 2018.

    Public Lecture: “Canadian Catholics and the Great War, University of Prince Edward Island, 7 November 2018.

    “Irish Famine Orphans and the Canadian Heritage Minute,” University of Prince Edward Island, 7 November 2018.

    “Archbishop Denis O’Connor,” Pickering Historical Society, 6 October 2018.

    “Irish Labourers in Toronto’s History,” Canadian Friends of James Connolly Society, United Steelworkers of America, 3 October 2018.

    Keynote Address: “Catholic Education at the Crossroads,” Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, 28 September 2018.

    “Catholic Children in Protestant Towns: The Fate of Irish Famine Orphan Children in British North America,” Keynote Presentation. International Irish Famine Summer School and Conference, Strokestown, Roscommon, Ireland, 21 June 2018.

    “Updating the Whereabouts of the Strokestown 1490,” International irish Famine Summer School, Strokestown, Roscommon, Ireland, 20 June 2017.

    “New Research on the Great Irish Famine: The Case of the Strokestown 1490,” American Conference for Irish Studies, University College Cork, Ireland June 19, 2018.

    “The Huron Tract, Famine Migration, and Settlement of the Canada Company Lands, 1847–1851,” 22nd Biannual Ulster American Heritage Symposium, University of Toronto, Canada, 14 June 2018.

    “A Discussion of the Imperial Irish: A Special Panel,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association,” 31 May 2018. Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Regina.

    “Catholic Churches in Protestant Towns: Irish Famine Orphans, the Churches and the Ports of Saint John, Kingston, and Toronto, 1847–1848,” Canadian Society of Church History, 30 May 2018. Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Regina.

    “Irish Famine Orphans in Canada Reconsidered,” Keynote Address. The Great Irish Famine—Canada’s First Great Refugee Crisis, 22–23 May 2018. York University, Canada.

    “Doing Multigenerational Research on the Irish Famine,” Invited Speaker, Trinity College Dublin/Irish Heritage Trust, Science Week Panel on Trauma and Famine, 16 November 2017.

    “The Famine Refugees from Roscommon to Canada,” Invited Lecture, Irish Heritage Trust/Strokestown Park Museum, Strokestown, Ireland, 15 November 2017.

    “Our Cup Runneth Over: Writing Religious History in English Canada over the past Twenty-Five Years,” Symposium Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Research Centre for the Study of Canadian Religion, Université St-Paul, Ottawa, 9 November 2017. (One of four keynotes)

    “Old News, Fake News, and Good News: Challenges to Catholic Education in the Twentieth Century,” Keynote Address, Central Ontario Catholic Curriculum Cooperative, When Faith Meets Pedagogy, Toronto, 26 October 2017.

    “Luther and Canadian Catholics: Historical Perspectives on the Influence of the Reformation on Canadian Catholicism,” Keynote Address, Reformation Lecture Series, St. Mary’s University, Calgary, 19 October 2017.

    “Commemoration and Memorialization; What are Historians and Archivists to Do?” Address to the Canadian catholic Archivists Group,” Mississauga, Ontario, 19 September 2017.

    “Finding Molly Johnson: Irish Famine Orphans in British North America, A Comparative Study of Saint John, Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, and Toronto,” Keynote Address, Irish Famine Summer School, Quinnipiac University, 15 June 2017

    “In Search of the Famine Orphans of Quebec, 1847–1848” Irish Famine Summer School and Conference, Quinnipiac University, Connecticut, 14–17 June 2017”

    “Catholic Minorities and the Boer War,” Canadian Society of Church History, Toronto, 30 May 2017.

    “Uncomfortable Pews; Confederation and the Response of British North America’s Roman Catholic Bishops,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Toronto, 30 May 2017.

    “Uncomfortable Pews: The Canadian Churches and the Confederation Movement,” University of Toronto Symposium “The Other ’60s,” 22 April 2017.

    “Canadian Catholic Responses to Confederation,” The Annual Wintermeyer Lecture, University of St. Jerome’s College, Waterloo, 7 April 2017.

    “Committed to ‘Double Duty’: Canada’s Irish Catholics in the Great War,” at Thomas D’Arcy McGee Summer School, Carlingford, Ireland, August 2016.

    “The Orange, Green, and the Khaki: Toronto’s 208th Battalion during the Great War,” at 40th Annual Ulster-American Symposium, Omagh, Northern Ireland, June 2016.

    “From Famine to Freedom: Irish Catholics in The Diaspora and the Easter Rising,” Keynote Address, Second Annual Irish Famine Summer School, Strokestown, Ireland June 2016.

    “Migration, Matrimony and Murder: Irish Catholic Famine Migrants on the Niagara Frontier, 1847–1851,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Calgary, June 2016.

    “The Fate of the 1490: Further Observations on the Strokestown Assisted Immigrants of 1847,” with Chiara Fallone, Jessica Bush, and Pamela Smofsky, Fourth International Famine Conference, Strokestown, Ireland, June 2016.

    “The Famine Plot Reconsidered,” Holodomor Conference, Famine as a Political Tool, University of Toronto, October 2015.

    “The Fate of the 1490: Preliminary Observations on the Strokestown Assisted Immigrants of 1847,” with Kiera O’Sullivan, Julia Maher, and Elizabeth McDermott, Third International Famine Conference, Strokestown, Ireland, June 2015.

    “There is More to America than America: Irish Migration to British North America During the Great Irish Famine,” International Famine Summer School, Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, Ireland, June 2015.

    “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: The State of Catholic Archives in Canada,” International Symposium on Catholic Archives, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, May 2015.

    “Seeking the 1490: The Exploration of the Whereabouts of the Assisted Immigrants from the Mahon Estate, Strokestown, County Roscommon, 1847,” International Famine Symposium, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, April 2015. Keynote Address.

    “Biography and Fiction: Clio’s Imagination, Michael Power and a Cast of Other Historical Players,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography Symposium, Victoria University, February 7, 2015.

     

    Invited Lectures

    “Canadian Catholics and the Great War: Piety, Patriotism, and the Paschal Mystery,” University of Prince Edward Island/St. Dunstan’s University, Public Lecture, 7 November 2018.

    “Denis O’Connor, Pioneer, Priest & Prelate,” Pickering Historical Society, Invited Speaker, 9 October 2018.

    “Going Against the Flow: Catholic Education and the Challenges of the 21st Century,” Keynote Address, Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board, Professional Development Day, 28 September 2018.

    “The Irish Come to Canada,” Invited Address, International Meeting of the Clan Egan, Eganville, Ontario, 6 July 2018.

    “Uncomfortable Pews: The Christian Churches and Confederation,” Annual John Wintermeyer Lecture, St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, Ontario, 7 April 2017.

    “Catholic Education in Ontario,” Ontario Supervisory Officers Qualification Program, Ministry of Education, 3 February 2017.

    “The Confederation Experiment,” Superior General and Congregation of the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Pembroke, Ontario, 5 October 2016.

    “The Making of Confederation,” Superior General and Congregation of the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Pembroke, Ontario, September 6, 2016.

    “Convocation Address,” Columbia International College, Hamilton, Ontario, May 2016.

    “The Twisted Road to Confederation,” Superior General and Congregation of the Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Pembroke, Ontario, 20 April 2016.

    “Francis, Laudato Si’, and Catholic Education,” Durham Catholic District School Board Trustees and Superintendents,” 6 February 2016.

    “A Year in the Life of Pope Francis and the Church, 2015 in Review,” St. John the Evangelist RC Church, Whitby, ON, 26 January 2016.”

    “The History of Catholic Education in Ontario,” Wilfrid Laurier University Faculty of Education, 25 January 2016.

    “Evangelium gaudiem and the Church of Pope Francis,” DCDSB, 6 October 2015.

    “Pope Francis and the Catholic University,” Keynote, St. Mark’s—Corpus Christi College, Vancouver, 2 October 2015.

    “Moderator,” Joint Session of the Media and Communications History Committee, Canadian Historical Association, and the Canadian Society for the Study of the Book, and the Canadian Society of Church History, SSHC Congress, Ottawa, 1 June 2015.

    “Two Men Called Francis,” St. John the Evangelist parish, Whitby, Ontario, 26 January 2015.

    “The Role of the Catholic School Trustee in Ontario,” Ontario Catholic School Trustees Association, Plenary Meeting, 17 January 2015.

    “Pope Francis and the Apostolic Exhortation,” Evangelii gaudiem, St. Martin de Porres parish, Ottawa, 8 November 2015.

  • Education

    PhD, History (1988) — University of Toronto

    MA, History (1983) — University of Toronto

    BA Honours, History & Religious Studies (1982) — University of Ottawa