Roland de Corneille was an Anglican priest and member of Parliament for Eglinton-Lawrence in Toronto for three terms from 1979 to 1988, but he is perhaps best known in the Jewish community for his advocacy of Jewish Christian reconciliation and his role in launching the Canada-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group.
De Corneille passed away in Toronto on Dec. 30. He was 87.
Born in Switzerland, de Corneille grew up in France and moved to the United States, where he studied at the General Theological Seminary. He later moved to Canada, where he graduated from the University of Toronto’s Trinity College in 1953 as an ordained Anglican priest.
In the early 1960s, he headed an Anglican missionary program aimed at converting Jews, but in 1966 he wrote the book Christians and Jews: The Tragic Past and the Hopeful Future.
He is credited with being among the first to urge churches of various denominations to change their attitude toward Jews. He launched interfaith discussions in the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of the Anglican Church of Canada.
In 1971, he was appointed national director of the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith Canada, where he worked until 1979.
“He was among the pioneers” in bringing Jews and Christians together, said Bernie Farber, former CEO of Canadian Jewish Congress. “His biggest issue was anti-Semitism, and he felt somewhat guilty as a Christian for anti-Semitism. He basically devoted his life to eradicating [it].”
Victor Goldbloom, chair of Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Montreal, did not know de Corneille well, but recalled that his reputation was as an advocate for better understanding between Christians and Jews.
“He was one of the early leaders,” Goldbloom said. “He was a vocal person who made himself heard at a time when Christian-Jewish dialogue was in its early days and didn’t always have much depth. It was sort of a feel-good understanding, and as time went by, it had deeper significance and began addressing historical issues, historical anti-Semitism and Christian attitudes to Jews and Judaism.
“He was a pioneer. It was well before the Second Vatican Council and he was a contributor to Christian-Jewish dialogue in Canada,” said Goldbloom, past president of the International Council of Christians and Jews.
“The concept of bringing Jews and Christians to sit down and talk about common issues was his,” Farber said.
“Both the Christian and Jewish communities owe a debt of gratitude to Roland de Corneille for his steadfastness in speaking out against anti-Semitism at a time when not a lot of people were doing it.”
His role in the parliamentary support group “was another way to express his desire to have Jews and Christians walk down the same path of reconciliation,” Farber said.
“He was widely respected.”