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My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian: the intersection of history and contemporary church life, the intersection of history and contemporary politics, serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips, publications and research projects, upcoming conferences, and speaking engagements.
I sometimes blog for two other organizations, the Canadian Baptist Historical Society and the Centre for Post-Christendom Studies. The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated. |
 On my recent trip to some conferences in San Antonio, Texas, I walked over to a Sunday morning mass at the San Fernando Cathedral (also known as Cathedral of Our Lady of Candelaria and Guadalupe). I have been to several masses in various churches in Canada, and I thought this service would be just like the others over the years. But there were a few surprises for me that morning.
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 The prayer noted above was published by Henry St. George Tucker in the United Church Observer (1 June 1944). As Adam Rudy and others have noted, the Canadian churches were active supporters of the war effort against Germany and Japan. And with the long-anticipated invasion looming in Western Europe the churches took it upon themselves to pray for success on the beaches and beyond. Note, however, the lack of wild jingoism and the presence of an attitude of humility - included within the prayer is a recognition of the Allies' sins, as well as the hope for a better future among all nations. On this Remembrance Day may we remember and honour those who have come before us, and paid a high price for our liberty. Below is the full page. (Sorry the image is crooked - I was unable to adjust the image.)  For further reading on the church and the war, see Adam Rudy, "The Cause of Righteousness and Freedom: Canadian Protestant Churches and the Second World War," PhD dissertation, McMaster Divinity College, 2022. Sadly, there is no complete work on the Catholic churches in Canada for the period of the Second World War.
 Before my dad moved to England in 1998, he took me aside and gave me a precious keepsake he had held since the Second World War. I had never seen it before. It was a scarf worn by his cousin Frederick Heath Broad (1923-1944) in the local Cub Scouts group in Toronto. The reason for the transfer of ownership to me was that my dad did not want it to get lost as he relocated across the Atlantic to England.
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