Speaker Profile

Dr. Michael W. Higgins

Dr. Michael W. Higgins is an author, broadcaster, Vatican affairs specialist, columnist and long time Catholic educator, scholar and administrator. 

He studied at St. Augustine’s College of Philosophy, University of Ottawa and completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Philosophy (magna cum laude) at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in 1970.  He pursued graduate studies in English at York University, where he was mentored by the distinguished poet-scholar Eli Mandel, receiving his Masters degree in 1971 and his Doctoral degree in 1979.  In addition, he did a Bachelor of Education degree at the University of Toronto in 1973 and graduate studies in Theology on Newman under Professor James M. Cameron at the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto.

From 1973-82 Dr. Higgins taught English at St. Michael’s College School, Theology and Religious Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College, Erindale College, and Saint Paul University in Ottawa.  He then served for a quarter of a century in various capacities as a professor of English and Religious Studies at St. Jerome’s University in the University of Waterloo, including terms as a Chair, Associate Dean, Vice-President and President. He assumed responsibilities as President and Vice-Chancellor of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB in 2006.  On January 1, 2010, Dr. Higgins assumed new duties as Vice President for Mission and Catholic Identity at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut.

Dr. Higgins has edited and co-edited, authored and co-authored, eleven books including: Portraits of Canadian Catholicism, My Father’s Business: A Biography of His Eminence G. Emmett Cardinal Carter, The Jesuit Mystique, Power and Peril: The Catholic Church at the Crossroads, the award-winning Heretic Blood: The Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton, The Muted Voice: Religion and the Media, and Stalking the Holy: The Pursuit of Saint-Making.

Dr. Higgins also has an extensive media record as a columnist, commentator, scriptwriter, narrator, researcher, and consultant dating back to 1978.  He was a monthly columnist for the Toronto Star from 1986 to 2006 and a weekly columnist for The K-W Record.  He is currently a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail, The Literary Review of Canada, and Commonweal.  As a radio documentarian for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he has prepared over sixty one-hour scripts for Ideas, Celebration, and Testament and has been a regular contributor to Morningside, This Morning, Sunday Edition, as well as to CTV’s Canada AM and to TV Ontario’s Studio 2 and Agenda.  Several of his programmes have been nominated and short-listed for public-broadcasting awards. Dr. Higgins was the chief consultant for John McGreevy’s six-hour television series, Sir Peter Ustinov’s Inside the Vatican.