The 2007-2008 Waterloo Catholic District School Board Lecture
Post 9/11 North Americans have been saturated with talk of a "Clash of Civilizations," ostensibly arguing that we are culturally and religiously under siege. This lecture will compare the early 20th century rhetoric of nation building in Canada to the contemporary discussion and will demonstrate how little has changed. The myth of building a new and improved Britain in Canada , prior to World War I, targeted religious and ethnic minorities as "strangers at our gates"- that is, strangers who lacked the "correct" form of Christianity, reflected an "inferior" culture, and clearly were "uncivilized." This same myopia is reflected in today's anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Myroslaw Tataryn
Dr. Myroslaw Tataryn is Dean and Vice President of St. Jerome's University. He is a priest in the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which is in union with the Church of Rome. He is a husband to Maria and father to three daughters. He has authored or co-authored several books, including Christianity in the New Ukraine (2002), Windows to the East (2001 ), Augustine and Russian Orthodoxy (2000), and Praying with Icons (1988). Prior to his arrival at SJU, Dr. Tataryn was Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at St. Thomas More College and, before that, Executive Director of the St. Sophia Religious Association of Ukrainian Catholics in Canada . This lecture and Dr. Tataryn's research on Eastern Christians in Canada informs his chapter in a forthcoming volume co-edited by SJU's Dr. David Seljak, which examines the varieties of Christianity in Canada.