PROMINENT ASSUMPTIONIST Rev. George H. Tavard, A.A. (1922-2007)

The Reverend George H. Tavard was born in Nancy, France and studied at the Grand Seminaire de Nancy and the Catholic Faculties of Lyons in France. He was ordained to the order of the Augustinians of the Assumption by the bishop of Metz, France, on 2 March, 1947, and held a Doctorate of Sacred Theology from Lyons, 1949.

From 1949 to 1951 he lectured in theology at Capenor House, Surrey, England. In 1951 and 1952 he was assistant editor of Documentation Catholique in Paris. In 1953 he moved to New York City. He has since taught at Assumption College, Worcester, MA, Mount Mercy College (today, Carlow University), Pittsburgh, PA, where he chaired the theology department, Pennsylvania State University, Methodist Theological School in Ohio, from where he retired in 1990 as Professor Emeritus.

He was visiting professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Josephinum School of Theology, Marquette University, Hekima School of Theology in Nairobi, Kenya, Regis College at the University of Toronto, and the Catholic University of America. He attended Vatican Council II as a "peritus conciliaris," named by Pope John XXIII, and consultant to the Pontifical Secretariat for the Unity of Christians.

He gave the Swanson Lectures at Lancaster Theological Seminary, 1967, and the Firth Lectures at the University of Nottingham, 1968.

Father Tavard was a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Preparatory Commission ("Malta Report", 1968), and then of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Conversations (ARCIC-1: "Final Report," 1983) until 1983, when he was assigned to the International dialogue of the RC Church and the World Methodist Council. He was part of ARC-USA (Anglican-Roman Catholic Conversations in the USA) and of Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the USA from the beginning. He lectured and written extensively in the areas of historical theology, ecumenism, and spirituality.

He was an official Catholic observer at the Faith and Order Conference in Montreal, 1963, at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Denver, CO, 1980, and the delegate of the Catholic Church at the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Panama, 1997.

The georgestavard genealogy can be consulted at GeneaNet.org.

The George H. Tavard Archives are located at Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI.

Fr. George died suddenly in Paris on August 13, 2007.

http://www.assumption.us/Tavard/biography.htm