By Canadian Press

Bishop who promoted Christian unity dies: ‘A common man with a common touch’

Aug 2, 2016 | 12:00 PM

HALIFAX — A highly influential Roman Catholic bishop, who helped break down longstanding barriers that once discouraged Christians from studying and worshiping together, has died.

Archbishop emeritus James Hayes, the retired archbishop of Halifax, died at the age of 92 after being admitted to a hospital where he’d often visited ailing and dying parishioners.

“He was a Pope Francis-style figure, prior to Pope Francis,” said David Deane, a Roman Catholic teacher at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax. “He was a common man with a common touch. During his time it was far less common than it is today.”

Theologians and church leaders say the former archbishop was among the most revered Roman Catholic leaders in Nova Scotia over the past four decades, playing a key role in the ecumenical movement and helping create the Atlantic School of Theology, a rare example of a seminary where Catholics have studied alongside protestant denominations since 1971.

Marilyn Sweet, who studied the writing and preaching of the archbishop for her masters thesis, says Hayes navigated a period of change in the church after attending the Second Vatican Council in Rome in 1962 and 1965 and returning to serve as archbishop from 1967 until 1990.

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While he remained concerned with liturgical tradition, Hayes embraced the council’s message that the Roman Catholic church should breathe life into traditional teachings, she said.

“I see his influence for every part of our faith … Not just for Christians but for those of other faith traditions,” she said, adding that he brought in initiatives in youth gatherings, missionary work and consulting with laity.

Deane said Hayes was among a generation of clerics who “took a sledge hammer” to barriers between Christian denominations.

“There was a polemical approach to the Protestant churches in the first half of the century. The Second Vatican Council made massive shifts in affirming other denominations,” he said.

“James Hayes was at the forefront of the movement to tear down those barriers.”

Deane also said Hayes was a rare example of a bishop from the 1960s who was “first and foremost a bedside chaplain,” visiting the sick and dying in between administrative duties.

Sweet said Hayes kept his chaplain’s name tag near his bed during his final days. “He insisted on bringing it with him in case anybody needed to talk to him while he was there,” she said.

She said Hayes — who grew up just outside Halifax in Herring Cove, N.S., with three siblings — was saddened and discouraged by the revelations of the sexual abuse of children by priests in Atlantic Canada and around the globe.

The diocese of Antigonish, in northern Nova Scotia, concluded a 2009 class-action settlement in relation to Roman Catholic priests accused of abusing boys in northern Nova Scotia dating back to the 1950s.

“The scourge of sex abuse was a tragedy and it was very, very, very disturbing to him … When he was the head of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, he was dismayed and discouraged (by it),” said Sweet.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press