George C. Pidgeon
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The Very Reverend George C. Pidgeon |
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| 1st Moderator of the United Church of Canada | |
Pidgeon dedicates the cornerstone of the new Christian education wing of Royal York Road United Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 1958
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| Church | United Church of Canada |
| In office | June 10, 1925 – 1926 |
| Successor | James Endicott |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1894 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 2, 1872 |
| Died | June 15, 1971 (aged 99) Toronto, Ontario |
| Denomination | Presbyterian |
| Alma mater | |
George Campbell Pidgeon (March 2, 1872 – June 15, 1971) was a Christian minister, first in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and then in the United Church of Canada, as well as the last Moderator of the Presbyterian Church before amalgamation and the first Moderator of the newly formed United Church of Canada. He was a strong proponent of the proposed union of churches and later in life championed ecumenism.
Pidgeon was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1894 and earned his Doctor of Divinity degree from Montreal's Presbyterian College. His first posting was at Montreal West Presbyterian Church (now Montreal West United Church). He then moved to the Toronto area, serving first in the Streetsville area (now Mississauga), before moving to the West Toronto Junction area.
From 1909 to 1915, he left pastoral ministry to teach theology at Westminster Hall in Vancouver. He then returned to Toronto in 1916, where he served as minister of Bloor Street Presbyterian (now Bloor Street United Church).
He became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in 1925, and was a strong proponent of the proposed church union between the Presbyterian, Methodist and Congregationalist Churches in Canada. However, a substantial minority of Presbyterians remained opposed to church union. Their threat to the entire project was resolved by giving individual Presbyterian congregations the right to vote on whether to enter or remain outside the United Church. In the end, 302 out of 4,509 congregations of the Presbyterian Church (211 from southern Ontario) chose to reconstitute themselves as a "continuing" Presbyterian Church in Canada.
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