Gerald Emmett Carter

Gerald Emmett Carter, CC (March 1, 1912&mdash;April 6, 2003) was a Canadian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Toronto from 1978 to 1990, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979.

Youth and ordination
The youngest of eight children, Gerald Carter was born in Montreal, Quebec, to an Irish Catholic family. His father was a typesetter for The Montreal Star, his brother, Alexander, would become Bishop of Sault-Sainte-Marie, and two of his sisters would become nuns.

Carter attended the Collège de Montréal before studying at the Grand Seminary and the Université de Montréal, where he obtained his Licentiate in Theology in 1936. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Alphonse-Emmanuel Deschamps on May 22, 1937.

Parish work
Carter then did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Montreal until 1939, whence he became the first director of the English section of École Normale Jacques-Cartier.

During his tenure as chaplain to the Catholic students at McGill University from 1942 to 1956, he was also named director of the English section of Catholic Action (1944) and president of the Thomas More Institute for Adult Education (1946), and earned his doctorate in theology (1947).

Archbishop of Toronto
He was Bishop of London, Ontario from 1964 to 1978, when he was appointed Archbishop of Toronto. He retired in 1990 and was succeeded by Aloysius Matthew Cardinal Ambrozic.

In 1982 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. The library at King's University College at the University of Western Ontario in London is named after him, as are Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in Aurora, Ontario and Cardinal Carter Catholic Secondary School in Leamington, Ontario.

An important figure in Montreal's education system, founding St. Joseph's Teachers College for English-speaking Catholics, Cardinal Carter was a member of the Montreal Catholic School Commission for 15 years, and active at McGill University's Newman Club and the St. Thomas More Institute.

Pastoral programs
In Toronto, Cardinal Carter was responsible for expanding the Archdiocese's pastoral programs, Catholic education and social services as well as implementing the reforms of Vatican II. He was involved with the opening of Covenant House for street youth and worked with the Province of Ontario to provide affordable housing to the elderly and disabled.

Cardinal Carter died in Toronto and is buried at the Bishops’ Mausoleum at Holy Cross Cemetery north of Toronto.

Gang of Five
Bishops Philip Pocock, George Flahiff, Joseph Aurele Plourde and the Carter brothers (Alexander and Emmett) became close friends who dubbed themselves and became known as the “The Gang of Five.” The five wielded a significant influence upon their fellow bishops and hence upon the face of Roman Catholicism in Canada.