Anglican Communion News Service

The Revd Canon Dr Eugene R Fairweather, a Canadian Anglican theologian and ecumenist of international stature, died on Saturday 6 April, in Nova Scotia. Fr Fairweather spent almost his entire career at the divinity faculty at Trinity College, Toronto, from 1944 until his retirement in 1987, where he trained generations of Anglican priests. From 1964 he held the position of Keble Professor of Divinity at the college.

Fr Fairweather was a theological consultant to the Anglican Congress of 1963 and the Lambeth Conference of 1968. As a theologian he had a major influence on the Canadian Book of Alternative Services (1985) and on developments in his own church and beyond, including the ordination of women to the priesthood and the admission of baptised children to Holy Communion. Ecumenically, Fr Fairweather has served on the Canadian Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches Commission on Faith and Order and was one of the Anglican observers at the third and fourth sessions of the Second Vatican Council. He played a significant role on the Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission and was appointed by Archbishop Michael Ramsey as a member of the Joint Preparatory Commission of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church and then as a member of ARCIC I.

Canon Fairweather’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday 11 April at 14:00 Atlantic time in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Article from: ACO