Great News Here in Canada!

Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins elevated to cardinal

Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins got the call to join the 700-year-old inner circle of Pope Benedict XVI in a message on his smartphone.

“I was in Washington yesterday working on translation for the new liturgy when I got an email on my BlackBerry to call the nuncio’s office in Ottawa,” Collins told the Star Friday morning.

“I was kind of overwhelmed. I just said, ‘I’m deeply honoured. Thank you very much.’ ”

Collins, 64, is one of 22 new cardinals named to the College of Cardinals, the pontiff’s ecclesiastical advisory board that dates to the 12th century in the Roman Catholic Church. The cardinals, once known as the princes of the church, also elect the pope.

“My main responsibility will still be the archdiocese,” Collins said. “A cardinal has somewhat further scope for the whole church. One of the important things we need to do is preach the gospel.”

Collins has already served in special roles at the request of Benedict XVI. Last year, he was appointed to a panel investigating sexual abuse in Ireland.

About that inquiry, he said the church needs to be “very involved in the life of society — addressing problems in society and helping and encouraging people to deal with that.

“If someone is suffering, if someone is in trouble, if someone is in need, the religious people are the first to respond.”

He praised the devotion and goodness of the vast majority of the archdiocese’s Catholics.

This year, the Pope also assigned Collins as his representative in Canada to recruit Anglicans who wanted to join the Catholic Church but retain their traditions.

In the coming year, Collins is looking forward to being a part of Benedict XVI’s campaign for a “new evangelization.”

He described it as “reaching out in a secular society to preach the gospel, to bring the joy and energy of Christ in a society that sometimes gets a bit jaded and cynical.”

The Pope, he said, “is seeing very clearly the issues of the whole church. He’s always encouraging bishops to speak out. He’s just an amazing man. He’s written wonderful books, short ones which I find of find helpful.”

Collins was born and raised in Guelph, the son of a circulation manager at the Guelph Mercuryand a legal secretary. As a boy, he served mass at The Church of Our Lady and still goes back there when he visits his sisters in Guelph.

He and his fellow cardinal-designates will be formally elevated in a ceremony Feb. 18 and 19 in Rome.

Collins has been archbishop of Toronto since 2007 and a priest for 38 years. Previously, he had served as bishop of St. Paul, Alta., and archbishop of Edmonton.

He will be the 16th Canadian cardinal and the fourth in the Toronto archdiocese, the largest in Canada with 1.9 million Catholics and 225 churches celebrating mass in more than 30 different languages.