T.R. O’Meara

From his appointment as principal in 1906 until the impact of World War I began to be felt in 1915, Dr. O’Meara was an exceedingly busy man. Financial secretaries beginning with F.J. Lynch in 1906 and continuing with H.D. Raymond and A.L. Fleming were primarily charged with raising money for the college in Canada and elsewhere, but the momentum of O’Meara’s long years in that pursuit continued, particularly on his frequent visits to England. On these occasions he maintained links with subscribers of past years, but he was equally concerned with obtaining students for the college. As accommodation became increasingly inadequate, Wycliffe College witnessed an expansion with the first addition to the building in the O’Meara regime made in 1908. Construction came to a climax in 1911-12. The expansionist period from 1906-1915 was a kind of golden age for Wycliffe. Dr. O’Meara was able to report to the council in 1909 that the college enjoyed the confidence of a larger constituency than ever before in its history. At the years passed and the college became known not only in Canada but outside the country’s boarders, O’Meara came to be a symbol of moderate Evangelical Anglicanism and to the widely accepted as a spokesman for this strong and vital element in the church.