The Gang of Five

  Brief bios and picture of each of the five influential Canadian Roman Catholic bishops who referred to themselves as “the Gang of Five”

Link to Commentary on the Gang of Five

Link to map of Canadian Roman Catholic Dioceses

Philip Francis Pocock (1906- 1984)  

Born 02 July 1906, St. Thomas, Ontario (Diocese of London, Ontario)

Attended St. Peter's Seminary, London. Ordained 14 June 1930.

1933: to Rome for graduate studies. Obtained a doctorate in Canon Law. Upon his return to the London diocese he taught Moral Theology and Canon Law at St. Peter's Seminary until 1944.

On 29 June 1944 he was consecrated Bishop (age 38). He was installed as Bishop of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 19 July 1944. Seven years later he was named Apostolic Administrator of Winnipeg, Manitoba. On 14 January 1952 he was installed as Archbishop of Winnipeg after spending several months as Coadjutor Archbishop. During his years in Winnipeg he was elected Vice-President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishop 1954-1956 and President 1956-1958.

On 18 February 1961, due to Cardinal McGuigan’s poor health, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Toronto. Ten years later, on 30 March 1971, following Cardinal McGuigan’s resignation, he was installed as Archbishop of Toronto.

29 April 1978: resigned. He took up residence at St. Mary’s, Brampton where he continued to administer the Sacraments until his death 06 September 1984.

Following Pocock’s death “The Gang of Five” dissolved.  

Gerald Emmett Carter (1912-2003)

Born 01 March 1912 in Montreal, Quebec (Archdiocese of Montreal). His schooling was obtained at St. Patrick’s School and Montreal College, both of which were run by the Sulpiciens (priest of the Society of St. Sulpice, pss)

Carter attended the Grand Seminary of Montreal, also run by the Sulpiciens, and was ordained on 22 May 22 1937. 

He was Founder and Principal of St. Joseph's Teachers' College in Montreal, charter member and first President of the Thomas More Institute in Montreal (1945), English Commissioner of the Montreal Catholic School Commission (1948-1961), Rector of St. Lawrence College Quebec (1961), Chaplain Newman Club at McGill University (1941-1956), served three terms as National Chaplain to the Canadian Federation of Newman Clubs, and was Conventual Chaplain Knights of Malta (1960).

On 02 February 1962 he was consecrated Bishop and served as Auxiliary Bishop to Cardinal Archbishop Paul Emile Leger pss in Montreal. 

Bishop Carter was installed as Bishop of London on February 22, 1964.

During and following the Second Vatican Council worked closely with Consilium and Archbishop Annibale Bugnini in implementing Bugnini’s vision of the Council and version of the new Novus Ordo Mass. 

Carter was Vice-President of the Ontario Catholic Conference of Bishops from 1971-1973, Vice President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) from 1973-75 and CCCB President from 1975-1977. 

He was appointed and installed as Archbishop of Toronto on April 29, 1978. One year later on June 30 he was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Carter founded Toronto’s Covenant House (for street youth under 21). In 1982 he received the Order of Canada. He officially retired from his duties as Archbishop of Toronto in 1990. 

He died 06 April 2003.

Alexander Carter (1909-2002)

Brother of Emmett. He also received a Sulpicien education S. Patrick’s School and Montreal College both of which were run by the Sulpiciens (order of priests of the Society of Saint Sulpice, pss)

He attended the Sulpicien-run Grand Seminary in Montreal and was ordained 06 June 1936. One year later was sent to Rome for two years to study Canon Law at Appolinaris Law School. While in Rome he stayed at Canadian College, a Sulpicien-run residence.

Between 1946 and 1947 Carter was dispatched to the Archdiocese of Winnipeg to help iron out problems arising from then Archbishop Sinnott’s reluctance to relinquish authority to a Coadjutor Archbishop.

He taught Apologetics at Montreal College to English-speaking students, many of whom were Americans.

On 02 February 1957, at age 49, he was consecrated Bishop to serve as Coadjutor Bishop to Bishop R. H. Dignan, Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. He was installed as Bishop of Sault Ste. Marie on 22 November 1958. After becoming Bishop of Sault Ste Marie he appointed Fathers Adolphe Proulx and Bernard Pappin as Chancellors, sent Proulx to Archdiocese of Montreal to learn the ropes, Pappin to the Diocese of London. The following year he sent Proulx to Rome to study Canon Law.

In 1964 he petitioned Rome for an Auxiliary Bishop to ease his workload. In his memoirs wrote that he had Proulx in mind for the role – he had decided that Proulx was the kind of man he wanted as a French-speaking Auxiliary and “I saw his great devotion to the Church and his goodness.” (Proulx was consecrated Bishop February 1965 and served as Auxiliary to Carter until June 1967 when, much to Carter’s dismay he was installed as Bishop of Alexandria [Alexandria-Cornwall])

He was Vice-President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops from 1965-1967, and President from 1967-1969. From 1977-1981 he was President of the Ontario Catholic Conference of Bishops.

Carter was a close friend of Laurent Morin with whom he attended seminary, studied in Rome and travelled Europe. Morin was later consecrated as Bishop, first serving as Auxiliary Bishop in Montreal and later installed as Bishop of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

On May 1985 Bishop Alex Carter resigned. He received the Order of Canada in 1989. He died 17 February 2002.

George Bernard Flahiff CSB (1905 – 1989)

Born 26 October 1905 in Paris, Ontario (Diocese of Hamilton, Ontario which is sandwiched between the Diocese of London and the Archdiocese of Toronto).

He undertook post secondary studies at St. Jerome’s, Kitchener (1920-1921) and in 1926 earned a B.A. at St. Michael’s College Toronto where one of his professors and tutor in History was Lester B. Pearson, the future Prime Minister of Canada (1963-1968). Flahiff then joined the Congregation of St. Basil novitiate. He attended St. Basil’s Seminary, Toronto and was ordained 17 August 1930.

Between 1930-1931 he studied canon Law and History at the University of Strasbourg, France, and in 1935 was awarded a diploma in archiviste-paléographe from École de Chartes in Paris, France. 

Once his studies were completed he returned to Toronto where he spent nearly twenty years (1935 – 1954) as Professor of Medieval history at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies at the Basilian-founded and -operated University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto. For most of those years he was also a faculty member with the Department of History, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto. 

He was elected Superior General of his order (the Basilians) on 06 July 1954 and served in that capacity for six years. He was also elected President of the Canadian Religious Conference (1959-1961).

On 31 May 1960 he was consecrated bishop and installed as Archbishop of Winnipeg Manitoba. It is said that due to his other duties and busy schedule lecturing, giving seminars and such he was frequently absent from his diocese.

Between 1961-1963 he was Vice-President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and President from 1963-1965.

He became Cardinal Archbishop of Winnipeg on 28 April 1969 when he was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals. In 1974 he was awarded the Order of Canada. 

Cardinal Flahiff resigned his duties as Archbishop of Winnipeg in 1982. He returned to Toronto to the Basilians and died 22 August 1989. He was buried in Winnipeg.

Joseph-Aurèle Plourde (1915 - )

Born 12 January 1915 in Saint François de Madawaska, New Brunswick (Diocese of Edmunston), he was educated at Bathurst College (Bathurst, N.B.), Bourget College of Rigaud Quebec (run by the Viatorians - Clerics of St. Viator, cssv) and St. Joseph’s College, Bathurst. He studied Social Sciences at “L’Insititut Catholique de Paris” and obtained his licentiate in Ottawa University.

Plourde attended the Halifax Nova Scotia Major Seminary and was ordained 07 May 1944. From 1959 to 1960 attended Gregorian University to study spirituality. He was Professor of Philosophy and Social Sciences at St. Louis College (Edmunston, N.B.) and gained repute as a retreat master.

On 26 August 1964 he was consecrated Bishop and became Auxiliary Bishop to Rosario Brodeur in the Diocese of Alexandria (Alexandria-Cornwall). When Bishop Brodeur resigned (October 1966 at age 77) Plourde was named Apostolic Administrator of the diocese until the new Bishop of Alexandria (Adolphe Proulx) was named. 

Four months later, on 22 February 1967, Plourde was installed as Archbishop Ottawa. He arrived in Ottawa two months before Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a Roman Catholic, was appointed Minister of Justice by Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Within a year Trudeau introduced his now infamous Ominibus Bill decriminalizing buggery and abortion and Trudeaumania was sweeping the nation. (Trudeau regularly attended Mass at Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop of Ottawa)

Between 1967-1969 Plourde was Vice-President of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) and President from 1969-1971. 

In 1989 he both received the Order of Canada and retired. He continues to reside in Ottawa.