Joseph Cassidy

Joseph Patrick Michael Cassidy FRSA (11 August 1954 – 28 March 2015 After ordination to the priesthood, he became a member of the retreat team at Loyola House, Guelph, Canada, where, among other things, he directed thirty-day retreats. He transferred to Montreal to care for an ailing parent, becoming co-director of the Ignatian Centre, Montreal, and a visiting professor at Concordia University where he taught courses in the history of spirituality and social ethics. During these years, he began a doctorate in Ottawa and directed dozens of workshops and retreats across Canada and the United States.

After leaving the Jesuits in 1991, Cassidy earned a Licentiate of Sacred Theology (STL) degree (summa cum laude) from Saint Paul University and taught ethics part-time for the university. He moved to Toronto to become Director of Research at a small non-government organisation, the Latin American Working Group (LAWG), where he edited Central America Update, a monthly journal/newsletter providing news and analysis on Central America. Cassidy obtained a conjoint PhD degree in Social Ethics from the University of Ottawa and Saint Paul University, where his thesis on the Ethics of Bernard Lonergan was awarded the University of Ottawa Graduate School's Gold Medal (Prix de l’École). He was also awarded a DTh degree by St Paul University.

Cassidy held academic positions in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Southampton, and Durham. He became an Anglican in 1993, was licensed as an Anglican priest in 1996, and was a member of the theology department and Principal of St Chad's College from 1997.

Cassidy was a university proctor at the Church of England’s General Synod from 1999 to 2005 and was a non-residentiary canon of Durham Cathedral from 2001.

A theological liberal on social issues, he wrote in his later years on spirituality, philosophical ethics, sexuality, Anglicanism, and economics. He was a member of the Council of Durham Cathedral and chaired and served on a number of panels and committees of the Church of England's Ministry Division. He was a Trustee of a number of charities, including the Royal School of Church Music (the RSCM) and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). He was a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, the Royal Society of Arts and a Founding Fellow of the Institute of Continuing Professional Development.

Death On 28 March 2015, Cassidy died at the age of 60 after suffering a heart attack. His funeral was held at Durham Cathedral on 17 April 2015.