2024 Honorary Degree awarded to Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

St. Stephen's College is delighted to announce Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean as the College’s honorary degree recipient for 2024.  Dr. MacLean is nationally regarded for her deep intellect, pragmatic spirit, extensive theological knowledge, vocational enthusiasm, and exceptional capacities as a communicator.

Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean is recognized with the honorary Doctor of Divinity for her many contributions of leadership and service to faith communities across Canada.  Ordained in the Maritime Conference in 1985, she holds degrees from Dalhousie University (BA), Harvard Divinity School (MDiv), and McCormick Theological Seminary (DMin).  For nearly four decades, Dr. MacLean served the wider church in Canada with intention, care, and duty.  As a member of the United Church of Canada’s Theology and Faith Committee, she was a co-composer of A Song of Faith (United Church of Canada, 2006), and in 2018 she was a nominee for Moderator of the United Church of Canada.  Dr. MacLean has taught at various graduate theological colleges across Canada, she has lectured on diversity at the Peter Lougheed Lectures (University of Alberta), and she is a past president of the Canadian Theological Society.  Dr. MacLean is the co-author (with John H. Young) of Preaching the Big Questions (2015), and one of her sermons was recently selected for the forthcoming volume, Moments in Time: Sermons from The United Church of Canada 1910–2020 (2024), which is a collection of homilies that highlight the engagement, impact, and legacy of the United Church on the Canadian religious landscape.  Though her national engagement is broad, her impact was most acutely felt within the various faith communities she served in Toronto, the Maritimes, Yellowknife, Canmore, and Edmonton.  Dr. MacLean is most appreciated by her beloved community of St. Paul’s United in Belgravia (Edmonton), where she served as Senior Minister for 20 years until her retirement in 2023.  

Please visit our 2024 Award Recipients page to read more about Dr. MacLean and the contributions for which she is being recognized.

St. Stephen’s College confers honorary degrees and awards each year at the College’s convocation ceremony. This year, the 100th Annual Convocation will be held on October 28, 2024. Details can be found on our Convocation webpage. The convocation address will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean on the theme of Making Meaning in Times of Tension.

Since 1917, St. Stephen's College has granted honorary degrees in recognition of individuals who have made exceptional contributions of leadership and/or ministry, either to their faith community or in spiritually-integrated ways to the broader human community. Honorary degrees and awards are granted to individuals whose meritorious work embodies and extends the mission of St. Stephen's College. St. Stephen's College is an affiliated degree-granting graduate college of the University of Alberta.