Celebrating the Spirit of Emmanuel: 2024 Alumni Award Winners
From left to right: Dr. Rhonda McEwen, president and vice-chancellor, Victoria University, Father Peter Osuntope, Abier El-Barbary, Rev. Kathleen McCallum, Rev. Cindy Bourgeois, Rev. Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg, principal, Emmanuel College, Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Steadman and Rev. Deb Walker Emm 9T7, president, Emmanuel College Alumni/ae Association.
By Samantha Chater
The Emmanuel College community is rooted in faith, service and transformative learning. Every year, the Emmanuel College Alumni/ae Association honours members who show extraordinary commitment to those values.
The association recognized this year’s recipients for their exceptional contributions to ministry, education and community service at the 2025 Alumni/ae Dinner on May 12.
Rev. Dr. William “Bill” Steadman Emm 7T7 and 9T1 received the 2024 Distinguished Alumni/ae Award in recognition of his long-standing commitment to faith, scholarship and leadership in the United Church of Canada. He has served in urban, rural and northern congregations, chaired national United Church of Canada committees, mentored future leaders and contributed to church-wide initiatives, worship resources and theological publications.
“I felt called to ministry when I was 12,” said Steadman. “By 17, I was having serious conversations with my minister about it. But this was 1969 and many churches were closing. There was a surplus of ministers, so I was advised to proceed with caution.”
Gradually, the wave of church closures slowed and many ministers who had entered the profession after the Second World War began to retire. This opened new opportunities for recent graduates.
Steadman moved to Toronto for undergraduate studies in philosophy at the University of Toronto. After graduation, he enrolled at Emmanuel College because of the opportunity to learn about different branches of Christianity.
“What interested me was the variety—different colleges (in the Toronto School of Theology), different traditions, different ways of thinking about faith,” he said.
A deep belief in the power of community shaped his ministry.
“Ministry is guided by the community,” he said. “Everyone brings something to the table and our coming together—that’s the real strength.”
Steadman sought out a wide range of ministry settings, from mining towns to small rural churches.
“The communities were different, but the concerns were often the same,” he said.
Beyond the pulpit, he wrote columns for local newspapers for more than two decades and continues to contribute to the Sudbury Star, offering reflections on life, faith and current events.
His leadership extended across the United Church of Canada. He chaired the Stewardship Committee and later the Theology and InterChurch InterFaith Committee of the General Council. He co-authored major reports, including the Leadership Outcomes report, which aimed to define the competencies and qualities essential for effective ministry leadership within the United Church, and the One Order of Ministry report, which shaped national conversations about leadership, ordination and ministry.
“Leadership, whether in the church or the wider community, is about service and building trust,” he said.
Steadman also served as a municipal councillor in Manitouwadge, Ont., and as a trustee on the Lambton County Board of Education. He sat on the Board of Funeral Services for Ontario (now the Bereavement Authority of Ontario).
He contributed to theological education by co-authoring books and worship resources and serving on the Emmanuel College Council.
“Emmanuel supported my call to ministry,” he said. “I enjoyed the challenge and the learning—and I’ve tried to give back as well.”
Service Awards were presented to four remarkable alumni/ae:
Rev. Cindy Bourgeois Emm 1T0 has been a pioneer and a powerful advocate for inclusion in the United Church. She was the first trans woman ordained in a mainline denomination in the world.
Bourgeois co-authored one of the first trans inclusion policies in the country for the Centre for Women and Trans People at the University of Toronto in 2008. She has worked at the intersection of gender identity, faith and feminism and continues to write and speak publicly on these topics.
“At Emmanuel, they talked a lot about a ministry of presence,” she said. “For me, it became a ministry of existence—the fact that, hey, I exist. It’s not just about being present but about acknowledging and embracing my identity in a space that is still learning how to include people like me.”
Bourgeois now serves as minister at St. Bartholomew’s United Church in Brampton, Ont., bringing lived experience, scholarship and advocacy to her ongoing mission for a more inclusive church.
Abier El-Barbary Emm 1T4 was the first Muslim to graduate from Emmanuel College’s Master of Pastoral Studies, now called Master of Psychospiritual Studies, program in 2014. In her work as a registered psychotherapist and pastoral counsellor, she blends the principles of Islamic theology with mental health care.
“I was interested in studying a combination of religiosity and psychotherapy and the MPS program felt like the next logical step,” she said.
Her time at Emmanuel introduced her to new ways of thinking about faith and expression. El-Barbary also found deep personal affirmation in the interfaith context.
“It helped cement something for me,” she said. “Being with people of different faiths was affirming. It reminded me that being with people of faith is what matters—not necessarily what faith.”
El-Barbary offers individual and group therapy in the Greater Toronto Area and gives public talks on mental health awareness. She is writing a book that draws on her combined interests in psychotherapy, Islam and lived experience.
“Emmanuel gave me the confidence to speak publicly, especially at conferences,” she said. “It reminded me that what we know is important—but so is lived experience.”
Rev. Kathleen McCallum Emm 8T5 appreciated the flexibility and the opportunity to take courses at affiliated colleges when she studied at Emmanuel while raising three young children with her spouse. These courses provided her with a broader and more diverse range of theological perspectives and experiences.
“I studied preaching at Knox College, history lectures at Trinity College and at St. Michael’s College —it really prepared me for pastoral ministry in a diverse world,” she said.
McCallum received her first pastoral placement in 1985 and was ordained a United Church of Canada minister in 1986. She served in full-time ministry for 24 years, retiring in 2009 as lead minister at Trinity United Church in North Bay, Ont. She was the first woman to hold that role. She continues to serve as minister emerita, teaches lay worship leaders and regularly leads worship every Sunday, across northern Ontario, many of which are without full-time ministers. Her ongoing commitment to remote communities mirrors the path her parents once took. They moved from England to northern Ontario with a young family to do the same work.
“Once your feet are on that path, you're there for life,” she said. “I never saw it as a career—it’s a lifelong calling.”
Father Peter Osuntope Emm 1T5 came to Canada from the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Nigeria, in 2012 to study sacred music at a private institution, but quickly realized the program wasn’t the right fit.
“When I thought the mission had failed and was preparing to return to Nigeria, God sent me a destiny helper,” he said, recalling a chance connection with a Nigerian priest at the University of St. Michael’s College. That priest introduced him to Emmanuel College, where he was accepted into the Master of Sacred Music program in 2013 as a voice major.
His experience at Emmanuel changed his plans to remain in Canada.
“Emmanuel is a college of cultural diversity and a welcoming home for all,” he said. “Although I was the only Roman Catholic priest and Nigerian in the college, I always felt welcomed. This experience shaped my faith, my relationships and my calling.”
Osuntope founded the St. Gregory Diploma School of Pastoral Music, the only Catholic school in Nigeria offering a diploma in sacred music, in 2018. The school is accredited by Augustine University, a Catholic university in Nigeria, approved by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos and partners with Emmanuel College, Victoria University and the University of Toronto.
“As an Emmanuel graduate, I felt a strong responsibility to give back to my community in Nigeria,” says Osuntope. “The experience I had at Emmanuel shaped not just my education, but also my vision. I wanted to offer others the kind of training, inclusivity and theological grounding I received. That’s why I started the diploma program in pastoral music—it carries the imprint of Emmanuel College in its spirit and purpose.”