Bishop William Power, 1917-2003.

Antigonish, NS -- Former Bishop of Antigonish (1960-1986) William Power died at age 88 in November 2003. Born in Montreal and a priest (1941) for that archdiocese, he was appointed Bishop of Antigonish in 1960. He attended the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and as his obituary (Tor. Star) puts it, "he was one of the leaders of the Church in Canada implementing the reforms", serving first as vice-president (1969-71), then as president (1971-73), of the CCCB.

Bishop Power was also a member of the Episcopal Social Affairs Commission when it produced the controversial document "Ethical Reflections on the Economic Crisis", drafted principally by Bishop Remi de Roo of Victoria, B.C., and published on December 31, 1982. The document--like preceding social justice statements--was issued on behalf of 12 million Canadian Catholics who knew nothing about it, never having been consulted. Controversy broke out when Cardinal Carter of Toronto objected that the rest of the bishops, including himself had not been consulted either, and he didn't like what he read. The document practically told Prime Minister Trudeau how to conduct his government's economic and social policies.

The Conference of Canadian Bishops never adopted the custom of the American bishops at this time to first issue a draft for public discussion before finalizing the text, nor did they adopt the even more appropriate custom of simply publishing it in the name of the consenting bishops themselves.

Bishop Power was laid to rest on December 3, 2003.