As recommended by the Executive Committee of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and approved by the CCCB Permanent Council, two Bishops have been newly appointed to the Governing Board of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC) for its next Triennium, May 2018-May 2021. The CCCB appointees are the Most Reverend Gerard P. Bergie, Bishop of St. Catharines, and the Most Reverend Pierre Goudreault, Bishop of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière. The CCCB General Secretary, Msgr. Frank Leo, remains an ex officio representative on the Governing Board.
Also during the recent Governing Board meeting at Saint Paul University, Ottawa, 23 to 25 May 2018, Sister Gill Goulding, C.J., Professor of Systematic Theology at Regis College in Toronto, was elected as one of the three CCC Vice Presidents along with Ms. Pat Lovell from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Ms. Kathy Vandergrift from the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Likewise, Rev. Stephen Kendall, Principal Clerk for the Presbyterian Church in Canada, was elected as the new CCC President, and Mr. Norm Creen as its new Treasurer along with Mr. Bob Clarke as Chair of its Personnel Committee. Sister Donna Geernaert, S.C., also becomes a member of the CCC Executive in her capacity as Chair of the Council's Commission on Justice and Peace. Likewise, Dr. Richard Schneider from the Orthodox Church in America, Archdiocese of Canada, in his continuing capacity as Chair of the Council's Commission on Faith and Witness, is also a member of the CCC Executive. The Rev. Canon Dr. Alyson Barnett-Cowan (Anglican Church of Canada) completed her three-year term as President of the CCC and now in her new role as Past President, continues as a member of the CCC Executive for the next Triennium. Mr. Peter Noteboom, who had been serving as the Acting General Secretary of the CCC since 1 October 2017, was confirmed as the new CCC General Secretary and given a five-year mandate, renewable.
Following the Governing Board meeting, the Most Reverend Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil and President of the CCCB, sent a letter of congratulations to the Most Reverend Ronald P. Fabbro, C.S.B., Bishop of London, conveying the Conference's appreciation and gratitude for Bishop Fabbro's service to the CCC as its Vice President since 2015 and over the nine previous years as a CCCB delegate on its Governing Board. The CCCB President also expressed the Conference's deep gratitude to Mr. Larry Brennan, from the Catholic Diocese of London, who completed six years of volunteer service with the CCC as its Treasurer.