​Guest Speaker Friday, April 11, 2014 at the National Club
Topic: A Message to Rotary at a Reflective Time of Year
 
Cardinal Thomas Collins is one of Toronto’s prominent citizens and leaders. He was born in Guelph Ontario on January 16, 1947 and was ordained and entered spiritual life forty years ago in Hamilton Ontario.
 
He has an educational background in English with a Bachelors and Masters Degree from Waterloo and Western and studied in Rome where he obtained his doctorate in theology.
 
He served as Bishop of Saint Paul Alberta and Archbishop of Edmonton from 1997 to 2006 before being appointed as Archbishop of Toronto in January 2007.
 
Two years ago on February 18, 2012, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals in Rome becoming the fourth Cardinal in the history of the archdiocese of Toronto and 16th in Canadian history. He was one of two Canadian Cardinals who participated in the Conclave of 115 Cardinals who elected Pope Francis I on March 13, 2013 and he has been named as a special advisor to Pope Francis at a time of change and renewal.
 
The archdiocese of Toronto stretches from the shores of Lake Ontario north to Georgian Bay, includes 225 parishes and 594 schools and represents a community of 2,000,000.  St Michael’s Cathedral which is Cardinal Collins’  home parish is located in the core of downtown Toronto serves 36 ethnic and linguistic communities.
 
Among his current positions he is Chancellor, University of St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto and Trustee of Share Life whose annual fundraising goal is $12 million to provide 354,0000 services to over 96,000 people in need and assists in developing countries around the world.