Thank you and God bless to CLC’s Founding Chair Dr. Gary Warner

Dr. Gary Warner

Our visionary Founding Chair, Gary Warner, is stepping down after eight years of dedicated leadership when his term ends in September 2026. Since our earliest days in 2018, Gary has been a steady, faithful and inspiring presence on CLC’s journey.

To thank Gary for his vision, his dedication and his tireless efforts on behalf of Concerned Lay Catholics, we are establishing an annual webinar in Gary’s honour.

More about our Founding Chair, Gary Warner

Gary is the epitome of an educated, engaged and empowered lay Catholic and, as such, was the perfect Founding Chair for CLC. Gary embodies what CLC is about when it comes to the laity living out their baptismal vows. As a professor, Gary has given his life to the formation of young, fully human beings; as an activist, he has worked tirelessly for human rights, social justice, peace and anti-racism.

In the 1970s, on two separate occasions, Gary went first to Senegal with his family for research related to new Black courses he was initiating and later to Sierra Leone to work for CUSO in setting up development programs. Having been named to the Order of Canada and the Order of Hamilton and having received the John Holland Award for lifetime achievement, among many other secular accolades, Gary is more recognized outside the Church than within it. Yet everything he does is motivated by his faith and his commitment to the Gospel.

Serving as Chair of Good Shepherd and Chair of the Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton, and being invited to be part of a three-person expert panel on anti-bullying convened by the HWDSB after a young student was stabbed and killed at Winston Churchill Secondary School, are some of his recent contributions. He is also a founder and convener of the annual Gandhi Peace Festival in Hamilton.

With his wife, Joy, he has been a lay Spiritan for over 30 years, and he has been a faithful parishioner his whole life, playing music, reading and serving on committees. As a faithful Catholic faculty member, Gary was active in the McMaster Catholic Community. He is an avid reader of spiritual writings and refracts everything through that lens. He is also patient, kind and wise and always makes time for people who are looking for guidance and counsel.

A permanent honour such as this will help those who come after him keep alive the founding vision for CLC.