Atlantic Ecumenical Council

The origins of the Atlantic Ecumenical Council can be traced to the life and work of the Rev. Dr. W.J. Gallagher, the first General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, from its inception in 1944 until his death in 1964. He brought together representatives of several denominations in the Atlantic region in a "Regional Ecumenical Conference" every second year, usually in September, at a University centre. At that time the policy of the Canadian Council of Churches was that in the intervening years between regular meetings of the Council there should be regional meetings, east and west. The first regional conference in the east was held in 1951, although prior to that date, in the immediate post-war years, small ecumenical groups had met with Dr. Gallagher. Dr. Gallagher's Associate, the Rev. Fred N. Poulton, Secretary of the Department of Social Relations, often accompanied him to these ecumenical gathering in eastern Canada. Mr. Poulton made a major contribution, his addresses on the potentialities of ecumenical social action roused his audience to much enthusiasm for creating an ecumenical instrument through with the Churches could express their social concern. -- The 1951"Regional Ecumenical Conference for the Maritime Provinces," under the auspices of the Canadian Council of Churches, the first of its kind in Canada, was held at Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, 17 - 19 September. -- Similar Conferences have been held biennially, at which the work of the Canadian Council of Churches has been outlined and information given regarding various ecumenical ventures at the local event.

Information taken from MG 20 Vol. 3107 No.1 (NSA) (page 1 of the "Report: Eleventh Atlantic Ecumenical Conference."