Wikwemikong—Father Gerald (Gerry) McDougall SJ was born in Montreal, but spent most of his formative years growing up in Ottawa. His first career was as an electronics technologist and he spent eight years in that capacity until he answered the call to the ministry and donned the Roman collar. Today he serves as the primary priest for a number of Manitoulin parishes, including Wikwemikong and Birch Island.
In an interesting connection to the Island, two of the first priests that had a defining impact on Father McDougall are names that would be very familiar to Island Roman Catholics, particularly those living in Wikwemikong and M’Chigeeng. The first is Father Daniel Nazaar, who served in Wikwemikong for many years before being transferred to Central Europe, and the second was Father Michael Stogery SJ, who served the community of M’Chigeeng for many years. The third was Father Doug McCarthy, who also served for many years in Wikwemikong and who was Fr. McDougall’s noviciate master.
Fr. McDougall began his journey into the clergy in 1989, but becoming a Jesuit priest is not noted for being a quick career path. It wasn’t until the year 2000 that he began the formal steps toward becoming ordained as a fully fledged Jesuit priest.
“Thunder Bay was my first assignment,” he said. He was assigned there to work with the Apostolate Amongst Indigenous Peoples, particularly with the Kitchitwa Kateri Anamewgamic church, named for St. Kateri, the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic church. The church is described as “a sacred place where all can feel welcome and respected. It is a place for healing, seeking to bridge the gap between native and Catholic ceremonials and spiritualities—where traditional Native ceremonies and rituals can be used to express the Church faith.”
Rounding out his early experience in the order, Fr. McDougall spent two years at the parish of St. Peter’s, a Sloval National parish (one of only two in Ontario).
“Both had their great joys,” he recalled. In 2007 he began the final stage of tertianship, progressing toward his full vows. This involved travelling to Australia, where in eight months he managed to see about one-eighth of that continent then it was back to Canada and Winnipeg, where he spent the next seven years at St. Ignatius Parish. It was quite a change of pace, as St. Ignatius was a big city parish.
Following a six-month sabbatical where he polished up his francophone skills, Fr. McDougall was ready to return to Manitoulin.
Fr. McDougall noted that he takes great inspiration from the charism of the Jesuit Order “all for the greater glory of God.” It has sustained him on his 27-year journey in his faith. “Finding God in all things,” he explains. “The greater Glory of God, finding God in all things.” It isn’t complicated, he notes. “You find God in things very simple. In the love between two people, in families.”
But he also notes that it has not been a trial. “I have enjoyed being part of God in the world,” he said, “it is part of the Jesuit spirituality—finding God in all things.” He points out that, if you take the time to look, wherever you are on the roadway of life, “God is there.”
When he is not ministering at one of the parishes he serves, Fr. Gerry can be found at the Jesuit retreat at Anderson Lake, just outside Espanola.
