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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Belief, backbone, and bulldozers! : Fergus O’Grady’s vision of Catholic, "integrated" education in northern British Columbia, 1956-1989 Beliveau, Kevin Edward Vicente
Abstract
Little has been written of either parochial or integrated educational history in northern British Columbia. Prince George College, founded in 1956 by Bishop Fergus O'Grady of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, represents a. particular attempt by the Catholic community of the Diocese of Prince George to offer a Catholic education for both Aboriginal and white students in northern British Columbia. Using the personal and professional files of the late Bishop O'Grady and other documentary evidence made available to me by the Archives of the Diocese of Prince George an attempt has been made to construct an image of Bishop 0'Grady's "vision" for Prince George College. Using letters, memos, minutes, personal notes, and a number of available monographs on the subject of parochial, Aboriginal, integrated,- and northern Canadian education, this thesis begins the process of piecing together some of the bishop's plans and visions for the school from its founding to its change of name in 1989 to "O'Grady Catholic High School" and eventual closing in June, 2001. Chapter One details the bishop's construction of not only the school's financial groundwork, but more importantly its ethos - a narrative rooted in century's old stories of the Oblates and their pioneering efforts to establish Christianity in northern B.C. The second chapter examines the role of volunteerism and parental support in staffing the school. In'particular, much credit must be given to the Frontier Apostles - a lay, volunteer organization started by Bishop 0'Grady - for the day-to-day running of the school for most of its thirty years. The third chapter looks specifically at the "integrated" nature of the school - the supposed presence of integration of both Aboriginal and white students. What is constructed is an image of the bishop's vision that finally provides some context to his plans for the school. The school lay on a foundation of a carefully constructed ethos, the sacrifices of hundreds of lay volunteers, and the involuntary financial subsidies provided by Aboriginal students from approximately 1960 to 1989. The school finally closed its doors in 2001 citing both financial difficulties and a lack of local parental support. Much can be learned from the mistakes of the past in any future attempts to re-open the institution.
Item Metadata
Title |
Belief, backbone, and bulldozers! : Fergus O’Grady’s vision of Catholic, "integrated" education in northern British Columbia, 1956-1989
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
2001
|
Description |
Little has been written of either parochial or
integrated educational history in northern British
Columbia. Prince George College, founded in 1956 by Bishop
Fergus O'Grady of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate,
represents a. particular attempt by the Catholic community
of the Diocese of Prince George to offer a Catholic
education for both Aboriginal and white students in
northern British Columbia.
Using the personal and professional files of the late
Bishop O'Grady and other documentary evidence made
available to me by the Archives of the Diocese of Prince
George an attempt has been made to construct an image of
Bishop 0'Grady's "vision" for Prince George College. Using
letters, memos, minutes, personal notes, and a number of
available monographs on the subject of parochial,
Aboriginal, integrated,- and northern Canadian education,
this thesis begins the process of piecing together some of
the bishop's plans and visions for the school from its
founding to its change of name in 1989 to "O'Grady Catholic
High School" and eventual closing in June, 2001.
Chapter One details the bishop's construction of not
only the school's financial groundwork, but more
importantly its ethos - a narrative rooted in century's old
stories of the Oblates and their pioneering efforts to
establish Christianity in northern B.C. The second chapter
examines the role of volunteerism and parental support in
staffing the school. In'particular, much credit must be
given to the Frontier Apostles - a lay, volunteer
organization started by Bishop 0'Grady - for the day-to-day
running of the school for most of its thirty years. The
third chapter looks specifically at the "integrated" nature
of the school - the supposed presence of integration of
both Aboriginal and white students.
What is constructed is an image of the bishop's vision
that finally provides some context to his plans for the
school. The school lay on a foundation of a carefully
constructed ethos, the sacrifices of hundreds of lay
volunteers, and the involuntary financial subsidies
provided by Aboriginal students from approximately 1960 to
1989.
The school finally closed its doors in 2001 citing
both financial difficulties and a lack of local parental
support. Much can be learned from the mistakes of the past
in any future attempts to re-open the institution.
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Extent |
4961524 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-09-15
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0055478
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
2001-11
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.