Dr Gerard Whitty

Gerard’s family roots are in Torbay just to the East of St. John’s. He is one of eleven siblings, six brothers and five sisters. He was educated at Holy Trinity School and Brother Rice High School. For his post-secondary education he went to All Hallows College in Dublin, Ireland to study for the ministerial priesthood. He was ordained to the deaconate Clonliffe College in Dublin and to the ministerial priesthood in 1969 at the Basilica in St. John’s. He ministered in rural and urban parishes for thirty-eight years before retiring. After ten years of active ministry, he decided to deepen his pastoral skills in Religious Education, Liturgy and Pastoral theology. He graduated from Boston College with a Master’s Degree in Religious Education, followed by a Master’s Degree in Liturgical Studies from Noter Dame, and finally a Doctorate in Pastoral Studies with a focus on catechumenal catechesis from Chicago Theological Union. He served on the North American Forum on the Catechumenate based in Washington D.C. for four years and was a presenter for the Forum throughout North America and Ireland. Seventeen years ago, he married his wife at Holy Cross Church in Holyrood. He has served as an assistant professor at Queen’s College for over thirty years. For the past ten years he has served as the director of Family Catechesis in the Basilica Parish in the Archdiocese of St. John’s.